A new podcast series is documenting the fascinating, yet not widely known story of north-east novelist, poet, teacher and outdoor enthusiast, Nan Shepherd.
Written by Richard Baron and Ellie Zeegen, A Journey with Nan Shepherd is split into three dramatised audio episodes, each focusing on different periods of Nan’s life.
It features performances by Sophia McLean, an Aberdeenshire actor who plays Nan, as well Elgin actor David Rankine, with the aim of giving listeners the experience of meeting Nan herself.
She may have been a woman ahead of her time, but with this new podcast, Nan Shepherd’s forward-thinking nature is resonating with audiences of today more than ever before.
“Nan was a very modern woman,” says Richard.
“It’s only been in the last 15 to 20 years that she has become more well known.
“It would’ve been great to meet her, but hopefully the podcast can allow people to do so.”
Theatre background
Richard’s own family history lies in Forfar, not too far from Nan’s beloved Cairngorms.
After studying English literature at St Andrews University, Richard was quickly drawn into the world of theatre, directing plays in venues across Scotland and beyond.
“All of my career has been based in Scotland, quite a lot of the time at Pitlochry Festival Theatre,” says Richard.
“I’ve directed plays from Shakespeare to pantomimes to new plays to classics, as well as working in the West End in London. I’ve been really lucky.”
Richard also runs his own theatre company, Firebrand, and it’s the ethos at the core of his company which helped bring about his latest project.
“We started Firebrand 10 years ago and our work looks at resurfacing Scottish plays that have perhaps been neglected in previous years,” says Richard.
“I think this same mindset comes into approaching the Nan Shepherd story.
“Bringing back Scottish work, celebrating it and looking at it from a new perspective – and more modern angle – is what Firebrand has been doing and that’s what we aim to do with this as well.”
Nan Shepherd
Anna “Nan” Shepherd was born in 1893 at Westerton Cottage in East Peterculter.
She later moved to Cults, spending the majority of her life there before dying aged 88.
Literary acclaim came her way after writing three novels in quick succession between 1928 and 1933.
But it was one book she’d kept hidden in a drawer for more than three decades, The Living Mountain, Nan’s ode to the Cairngorms, that would prove to be her lasting legacy.
Today, many people may recognise Nan’s face on the cover of the £5 note – the first woman ever to appear on a Scottish bank note.
For Richard, uncovering Nan’s story has been a fascinating experience.
In her teaching days, she’d take pupils out into the Cairngorms, let them read books that were banned and promised to give the class 100% marks so long as they turned up and attended her lessons.
A Journey with Nan Shepherd
“The idea behind the podcast is that you’ll meet Nan Shepherd herself,” Richard explains.
“You experience her through different stages of her life through three 30-minute episodes: when she’s young and quite famous, when she’s in the classroom as a radical teacher, and also in her later life when she’s been completely forgotten about as a writer.”
Richard also adds that working with author Dr Kerri Andrews, who has been collating Nan Shepherd’s personal letters for an upcoming project, allowed Richard and his team to unravel Nan’s personal qualities.
“Nan was quite a character!” Richard laughs.
“In her teaching days, she’d take pupils out into the Cairngorms, let them read books that were banned and promised to give the class 100% marks so long as they turned up and attended her lessons.
“We also discovered that she’d had this love affair with her best friend’s husband, which she kept very quiet.
“Perhaps people don’t know these elements about her as much, so we explore them in the podcast and try to figure out some of her other mysteries like why she stopped writing in the mid-1930s.”
Ambitious project
The podcast will be released on Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Sound Stage audio-digital platform with online events on November 21 and later on January 30.
Post-show discussions will follow each event and both are free to attend.
Having never worked on a podcast before, Richard admits that it’s been an “ambitious” project to take on, but it’s one that he hopes will engage audiences.
“Hopefully it’ll be really interesting for people who may know a lot or very little about Nan Shepherd,” says Richard.
“Back in Nan’s day, it wasn’t a world where exciting, young, female authors would be celebrated in the way they are now.
“But now, I think her work has eventually reached its correct audience.
“Being a theatre company, the next stage for us is to develop the idea of the podcast further into a play that can be performed on stage.
“We’re really excited about it.”
Visit pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com and firebrandtheatre.co.uk for more information on A Journey with Nan Shepherd.
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