Dogstar Online
Taylor of Inverness first up for Vimeo On Demand
Dogstar Theatre, the Highlands-based company with a European outlook, is to stream a filmed version of its international hit The Taylor of Inverness as the first show in a new paid-for online presence.
Dogstar Theatre Online will allow audiences to watch and download shows with Vimeo on Demand. Joining Matthew Zajac’s The Tailor of Inverness from Monday 11 May will be Circling A Fox -The Story of The Tailor of Inverness, a documentary made by Brian Ross and Hopscotch Films.
Matthew Zajac in The Tailor of Inverness at Assembly in 2008. Pic Tim Morozzo
The Tailor of Inverness is a story of journeys, of how a boy who grew up on a farm in Galicia (Eastern Poland, now Western Ukraine) came to be a tailor in Inverness. His life spanned most of the 20th century and his story was far from straightforward.
That boy grew up to become Matthew Zajac’s father and besides his journey from prison and enforced emigration, the play also follows Zajac’s own journey to find out what took the near-mythical story he had known since his own childhood and discover the truths behind it.
Fringe First
The play premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe of 2008, grabbing a Fringe First. Zajac won that year’s Stage Award for Best Solo Performer before winning the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland gong for best actor that year. It has gone on to have 275 performances to a total audience of over 40,000 people in a dozen countries.
Matthew Zajac in Circling A Fox. Pic: Brian Ross
Blending documentary, theatre and poetic drama-reconstruction, Circling a Fox tells the story of Zajac’s quest to seek the truth about his father’s past and his efforts to use theatre to reach out to a family he never knew existed.
The Tailor of Inverness is directed by Grid Iron director Ben Harrison, with a score from traditional fiddlers, Jonny Hardie and Gavin Marwick. Set and costume design is by Ali Maclaurin, with Lighting Design by Kai Fischer and Sound Design by Timothy Brinkhurst.
Launching the new streaming/download service, Dogstar says: “It is vital for small independent companies like Dogstar to find new ways of reaching audiences and new income streams and continue to develop while our theatres are closed.”
Also coming up…
The company plans to add two further productions over the coming months.
The Stornoway Way by Kevin MacNeil is a musical tragicomedy from the Western Isles which packed out theatres during its 2019 debut tour. It stars Naomi Stirrat, Rachel Kennedy and Chloe-Ann Tylor.
Also going online will be Dogstar’s 2014 production Factor 9 by Hamish MacDonald, with Ben Harrison directing Stewart Porter and Matthew Zajac. The production blends aspects of the horror genre with video and a direct performance style to tell the story of the appalling human tragedy of thousands of haemophiliacs and others who were treated with contaminated blood products during the 1970s & ’80s.
These films and theatre experiences will be available through Vimeo on Demand, £3 to view, £8 to download. Details on the Dogstar website: http://www.dogstartheatre.co.uk/ from Monday 11 May 2020.
The books of The Taylor of Inverness and The Stornoway Way are available from Amazon:
ENDS
