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Secret Wrapped in Lead – Braw Clan

19 – 29 July, 2023 – Various Venues

Accompanying her famous brother on a bracing tour of Scotland in August 1803, Dorothy Wordsworth seeks shelter in a humble lodging house and discovers something no outsider was ever meant to see.

Secret Wrapped In Lead is the chilling debut production of Braw Clan, the new Scots language theatre company based in Clydesdale. Inspired by Dorothy’s journal and featuring fascinating historical characters, this new play in Scots and English will be performed in Leadhills, Biggar, Thankerton, Crawford, Roberton, Crawfordjohn and Symington from the 19th – 29th July.

Written and produced by award-winning playwright Martin Travers (Whatever Happened To The Jaggy Nettles) and directed by actor and novelist Pauline Lynch (Trainspotting, Armadillos,) Secret Wrapped In Lead stars Helen McAlpine (Rillington Place) as Dorothy Wordsworth, Fletcher Mathers (Medea) as her fierce landlady Mrs Otto and Fletcher’s real-life daughter Morven Blackadder, making her professional debut as Primrose Otto.

Tickets

Tickets are available now at brawclan.com, and are priced on a Pay What You Decide basis.

This means there’s no upfront cost – audience members book in advance as usual, but without making a payment. After they’ve seen the show, they decide what they think it’s worth and pay by cash or card. If they haven’t enjoyed the show at all, they don’t have to pay anything.

Morven Blackadder as Primrose, photographed by Cristina Ertze

Writer Martin Travers said:

“I’ve known about Dorothy Wordsworth’s trip to Scotland for years. Living in Lanark, I knew that she, her brother William and Samuel Taylor Coleridge had visited the area. I always found that really exciting. During lockdown I researched her legendary journal, “Recollections Of A Tour Made in Scotland A.D. 1803.” I fell in love with her voice. It sings off the page and down through the years. And I loved her grumpy landlady Mrs Otto. As I read, I was wrapped in a feeling that’s hard to explain.

It was like looking over a hill into a lost world. A dark world, with its own rules and secrets and where the hardy people and animals are being slowly poisoned by lead. I wanted to push the unsettling otherworldliness of Leadhills to its limits, so I’m looking forward to audiences’ reaction. My hope is that they’re left feeling unnerved and surprised.”

Director Pauline Lynch said:

“This funding allows Braw Clan to offer accessible, affordable and nationally significant Scots language theatre in Clydesdale for the first time. We can turn a wonderful local story, Dorothy and William Wordsworth’s visit to Leadhills in 1803, into live performances, workshops and conversations about our history and language.

Secret Wrapped In Lead brings communities together for an evening of dark and funny storytelling, but it also provides 13 rural theatre practitioners with the chance to work close to home – a rare opportunity with huge professional and professional benefits.”

World Premiere

The world premiere of Secret Wrapped In Lead is at 7.30pm in Leadhills Village Hall on 19 July.

All tour dates

19 July – 7.30pm, Leadhills Village Hall, Ramsay Road, ML12 6YA

21 July – 7.30pm, Arts At Loaningdale, Carwood Road, ML12 6LX

22 July – 7.30pm, Arts At Loaningdale, Carwood Road, ML12 6LX

25 July – 7.30pm, Thankerton Village Hall, 51 Station Road, ML12 6NZ

26 July – 7.30pm, Crawford Village Hall, 100 Carlisle Road, ML12 6TW

27 July – 7.30pm, Roberton Village Hall, Mill Road, ML12 6RS

28 July – 7.30pm, Crawfordjohn Village Hall, Manse Road, ML12 6SR

29 July – 7.30pm, Symington Village Hall, 55 Main Street, ML12 6LL

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