National Theatre of Scotlands "Long Gone Lonesome"

February 12, 2012 | 8pm
Fred Turner Auditorium at Tallahassee Community College

February 13, 2012 | 8pm
Fred Turner Auditorium at Tallahassee Community College

“Both a defiant riposte to the cult of celebrity and a yodelling hoedown in its own right.” - The Guardian

The National Theatre of Scotland makes its Tallahassee debut with Long Gone Lonesome, an evening of song and story-telling about one of Scotland’s least known but most fascinating musical heroes, Thomas Fraser. A Shetland fisherman obsessed with American blues and country music, Fraser mastered his idols’ styles, and made tapes of his music with no ambition other than his friends’ enjoyment. Thirty years after his death, those tapes were released, creating a dedicated cult following.

Orcadian western-swing group The Lone Star Swing Band (pictured here) tells this upbeat tale through song and words, with novelist/playwright/musician Duncan McLean at the helm. Directed by the NST’s artistic director Vicky Featherstone, the show is a “hybrid of music and theatre that recalls the Ceilidh spirit… a rousing set of blues-tinged Americana standards that, with fiddle and slide guitar, make the connection between windswept island and lonesome prairie” (The Guardian).

Founded in 2005, the National Theatre of Scotland has no theatre of its own. Instead it tours work to venues all around Scotland, from Shetland in the north to Dumfries and Galloway in the south. Since its launch in 2006, the National Theatre of Scotland has been involved in creating more than 130 productions in over 120 different locations.

Tickets are available online at http://tickets.fsu.edu/

This performance sponsored in part by Tallahassee Community College