A north-east actress is enjoying being one of the stars of a new drama written by a Moray playwright.
Sophia McLean has gained her first major Scottish role in Lost at Sea, where she plays Shona, a young woman who returns to her home village searching for answers about the death of her fisherman father.
The work by Moray writer Morna Young has been acclaimed by critics.
Ms McLean is the daughter of a deep-sea diver and with the performance in Doric, she is looking forward to showcasing the play in Aberdeen.
She said: “I’m thrilled that my first major stage role in Scotland should be one about north-east Scotland where I’m from, and that it’s written in the Doric leid [language] that I grew up with; living in Aberdeenshire and visiting my Dad’s family in Elgin.
“When I was wee, you didn’t get often get major productions in Scots, or about the lives and stories of rural people in this part of the country.”
The play is especially meaningful for Ms McLean because her father Jim was a commercial diver during the 1970s and 1980s, involved in a variety of jobs including work on gas-lines, vessels, barges and wreck recovery.
She said: “Like many people from Aberdeenshire, I grew up very familiar with a very strong sense of the charm and the danger of the sea.
“There was the knowledge too that dad’s job was a risky one – and that accidents happened. He lost friends and colleagues to the sea, and had a few close calls himself.
“But he gave me a fierce respect and love for the sea, and those connected with her.
“All these things, coupled with the ‘pull-your-breeks-up-and-get-on-with-it’ dark humour, the Doric, the familiar ‘no-questions-asked’ future-focused prerogative, and the beautiful diamond weave in Morna’s writing make Lost at Sea incredibly special.”
“Lost at Sea really gets across that sense of the unforgiving nature of the ocean, the terrible knock-on effects when things go wrong and what it’s like in a community where life is built on the fishing, where the tradition goes back for countless generations.”
The play comes to His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, from tomorrow until May 11.
