PYLON

Glasgow theatre-goers and live music fans have an opportunity to see a the highly acclaimed production, PYLON, at the Mitchell Theatre on the 15th of September. This is the third outing for the unique and exciting production, based on real life events in Shortlees, Kilmarnock, which has been given high praise by critics on its previous showings. The performance is more than just theatre, as it includes live music more akin to live music gigs than stage acting.

The play tells the story of residents of Shortlees through the eyes of Davie who is searching for answers when questions are raised about the electricity pylons in the area causing an increased level of cancer diagnoses in the area. I was fortunate to be able to get some insight into the performance from the writers and producers of the production.

Interview

The play is based on real-life events in Shortlees, were you personally impacted?

Graeme who wrote the story lived in Shortlees when the Pylons were big news, and he personally knows some of the people whose families were absolutely devastated by what happened, so he has a personal insight into how friends and neighbours of his were affected. As we researched the stories we all got a feeling for how real and raw it still is. When you speak to people face to face who have lost people they love, under circumstances that are somewhat unexplained, you feel affected by it too. The characters are in the story are made up of people we know, and I think that’s why the audiences care so much about them. The whole story is personal.

Do you have a background in writing for the stage? What have you been involved with up until now?

We don’t have any stage writing background whatsoever. Actually, I wrote a pantomime for a local children’s theatre group a few years ago but beyond that we are completely new to this. Pretty much everyone involved in the creative process comes from the music scene. We’ve all played in bands. I think that makes the music in PYLON stand out, these are great songs with a narrative that enhance the story, but they aren’t musical theatre. They are more like songs you’d hear at the Barrowlands than the Kings Theatre.

Development

People deal with these types of situations on their own ways – how did the idea for a play come about?

The play itself has happened by accident. Graeme had the original idea and wrote about 14000 words. It was just the story of what happened. But over time we moulded into something we could actually present to people. The best part of the whole process was writing it.

We all work full time jobs so it’s not easy finding the time, we’ve spent thousands of hours on it. But being creative and having the feeling that you’re creating something meaningful is pretty special. Graeme and I would throw ideas about for days and days. Dialogue, story points, character traits etc. Eventually we’d get to a point where we were happy with it, then we’d move on and do it all over again.

Editing became a huge part of the process too. We wanted to make sure that there’s nothing wasted in PYLON. Every word has to mean something to us. Every single piece of PYLON has a purpose. It got quite intense during the writing. It got emotional too. We aren’t writers who decided to do a piece of working class theatre to give it a try. We are just guys writing about ourselves and our families and the place we live but I think that’s been the making of it.

Live experience

You mentioned the music, this is more than a play, it is a live music experience too and performances to date have been critically acclaimed. What can audiences expect from the performance?

Audiences can expect something they’ve never seen before. They can expect to laugh and to cry. Mostly they can expect to feel and to think. That’s what PYLON is made for. To get you feeling things and get you thinking. We hope it can inspire too because we’ve had no outside help with this. None. Everything we’ve done from writing it to performing it to marketing it to booking theatres to rehearsing has been done by us and our pals. At times that’s been incredibly difficult and very frustrating but on September 15th when we take to that stage the audiences don’t get the very best paid actors performing a brilliant story, they get a lot more– they get people who have lived and breathed this play. We have given it everything and I promise you that comes through in the performance.

Good cause

I believe the proceeds from the Glasgow show are being donated to charity. Tell me more about that.

We’ve decided to give whatever we make to the Beatson because they are a far more worthy cause than we are. Simple as that really. We have no idea if this will be last time PYLON is performed. We probably can’t sustain a production of this size and intensity on our own. The money means less than nothing to us anyway. If it was about money we wouldn’t be doing it. So, we thought whatever modest earnings we make lets put it to some good use. Where better than the Beatson?

Get your tickets NOW

There you have it, I suggest you get your tickets now before it sells out. A night of heartfelt poignancy, of humour, of compassion and including extraordinary visuals and live music, all based on true events and with the proceeds going to a fantastic cause. What are you waiting for?

PYLON has its own Facebook page where you can follow any promotion preceding the performance. Find more details about the Mitchell theatre dates on the 15th of September here.

I’m anticipating an amazing night and a rollercoaster of emotions. Try to make it if you can – tickets are still available. If you can’t then I’ll be posting a review on the ginger quiff after the event.