2024
2024 was a wonderful mix of local talent, established professional companies and emerging artists. There was drama, dance, comedy, music and family entertainment.
We were lucky enough to create links with graduate and student companies who provided us with quality work , whilst Borders Youth Theatre continued to prove the importance of their place in our growing festival with their professionalism, high quality performances and new writing. We continue to support our Borders based professional artists and are beginning to expand our horizons to companies further afield.
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This year Damp Knight Comedy joined us for the first time, offering a delightful mix of silly, clever, and always sharp witted.
Their show, Silly Little Boys, lived up to its name and our audiences enjoyed an hour of their improvised humour!
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We are delighted to let you know they will be back in 2025!
'Duns Players, the community troupe whose admirable ambition made DunsPlayFest happen in the first place, continues to make an impressively large and excellent contribution to the festival. The Fatal Misjudgement by Carol Robson, a drama about Mary Queen of Scots, was stern and beautiful and moving, beautifully acted and completely convincing. The Players, in collaboration with the Wilson's Tales Project, then presented The Monk of St Anthony, adapted by Robert Sproul-Cran, an uproarious romp, and late at night on the Thursday put on two strong and controversial pieces, 66 by Kevin Purves and Uncertain by Craig Knight. Both of these tackled knotty issues - the legalisation of homosexuality and the sympathy one might feel for The Devil - with verve and style; while not all audience members were pleased, DunsPlayFest was happy to continue to challenge and provoke. Friday saw the absolutely bonkers Why Doesn't Anything Ever Happen in Duns by the irrepressible Peter Lerpiniere - a surefire smash hit! And on Saturday the Duns Players' input concluded with The Red Lion by Jamie Mein who you would never know from this mature and hilarious new-written play is 15-years-old. So, six full productions of brand-new writing, all by playwrights from hereabouts, acted by local characters, to the delight of the gathering throng. Duns must be quite some place, eh?'
Firebrand
with
A Room of One's Own
Adapted from the writings of Virginia Woolf
Building upon the success of its production of Nassim Soliemanpour’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit at DunsPlayFest in 2023, acclaimed Scottish Borders-based Firebrand Theatre Company returned to the Festival in 2024, with its own new theatrical adaptation of
Virginia Woolf’s famous feminist essay, A Room of One’s Own.
As profoundly thought-provoking as White Rabbit, and directed by the award-winning Richard Baron, this ambitious one woman show, once again featuring the versatile Ellie Zeegen, engagingly revealed to a full house, why Woolf’s brilliant and richly entertaining 1929 polemic has become one of the most significant feminist manifestos of the present time, and of any time.
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"Babe Alien from Mon Espoir, written by and starring Lukca Best, and directed by Eilidh MacDonald, is a passionate exploration of the difficulties faced by intelligent and aware 20-somethings as they try to have as much fun as possible (of course) while not contributing to the horror of a messed-up world. The fact that this discussion arises so naturally out of a Las Vegas setting peopled by a gorgeously exotic alien who isn't an alien, a Miss Las Vegas who isn't Miss Las Vegas, a wannabee Mafioso and two highly amusing and determinedly Scottish couch potatoes, demonstrates the quiet genius of this piece. Older members of the audience were genuinely enlightened: 'We're not too cynical,' says Babe, 'we're overwhelmed. It's perfectly reasonable to believe that you could never make a difference'. With help from Hope who runs a new-age refuge, Babe rescues the whale confined behind the glass of a casino and the play ends positively but with rigour. This is sturdy stuff. Keep an eye on Mon Espoir, they're going places."
"Largely thanks to our Producer, Sara Best, who knows anyone who is anyone, DunsPlayFest has been reaching out to the theatre-makers of Scotland and these two brand-new companies made up of current students and recent drama graduates were greatly welcome at DPF 24. The Crunch Collective show, Sammy Blew Up A Toilet, gave a pungent reminder of the hell and the joy that is primary school and was performed with wonderful energy and accuracy. Hysterical by The Koi Collective concerned various so-called "mad" women of history; it was like a zany, souped-up, song-and-dance version of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, which is to say that it was utterly compelling and strong and persuasive. Both shows sported wonderful casts. And both shows went on to have successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, which pleases us in Duns a lot. We aim to be part of the process and we very much hope that both companies will make it back to Duns one day."
"In an unusual move, festival-favourites Borders Pub Theatre chose to dramatise six of the Wilson's Tales of the Borders. In previous years (and BPT have been appearing at DPF from the start), they choose a word and their stable of six or eight playwrights each comes up with a ten-minute play inspired by that word. Then, on the day of the performance, a director and three actors, all professionals, rehearse the plays which they then present script-in-hand. The formula has worked marvellously well so far and did again this time with versions of the old tales varying from the faithful to the inspirational, the uproarious to the solemn. The writing was bright and lively, the direction tip-top and special mention must be given to the actors, Scott Noble, Vivien Reid and Cate Barr who were unimprovable."
"Clare Watson is a multi-disciplinary artist known as Clare's Many Threads who enthralled the Sunday evening DunsPlayFest audience with Can I Be A Butterfly, her consideration of chronic fatigue, from which she has suffered extensively. Untheatrical as the subject-matter might sound, in Clare's writing and performance it became the stuff of a magical and beautiful display, an exploration not just of the condition but of life itself. Clare Watson is truly an artist."
"DunsPlayFest is all about making connections and the connection that has been made with the fantastic and well-established Borders institution, Borders Youth Theatre, is one of our happiest achievements. What BYT brought to DPF in 2024 was wonderfully rich, from the great Oli Bissett's workshop to the deep and engaging radio play, Ear Candy, and Karen Anderson's searching and yet funny exploration of the cancer sufferer's experience, Brokenly Beautiful. Perhaps the highlight of the BYT cohort - possibly the highlight of the entire festival - was Lewis Tekkam's play Mind Full, an astonishingly unsentimental, well-written and beautifully performed account of life as experienced by someone with severe disabilities; this seemed truly ground-breaking and, like Ear Candy and Brokenly Beautiful, destined for a life well beyond DunsPlayFest. BYT are just great and we hope will be an essential part of DunsPlayFest for years to come."
A Bear Named Wojtek
A half hour animated film, A BEAR NAMED WOJTEK is essentially a love story for one’s homeland - an important subject in times of refugees, nationalism and xenophobia. It relates the experience of the Polish people during World War II through the true story of Wojtek and his friend Piotr Prendys, a member of the 22nd Artillery Corps of the 2nd Polish Army.
"Clare Prenton is a star of theatre in the Borders and we are delighted that she thinks of DunsPlayFest when contemplating a new show. Having presented in previous years Men Don't Talk and Finding Mary, at script-in-hand stage but with excellent and indeed famous actors, she was back this year with Andy's Man Club, about the club of that name, where men gather and talk, because talking, and listening, are crucial to good mental health and #ITSOKAYTOTALK. The club was set up in response to the suicide in 2016 of 23-year-old Andy Roberts (who seemed fine to his friends) and has proved phenomenonally successful which itself shows what a problem suicide, the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK, is. The play, written by Clare after conversations with members of the club, and with haunting and beautiful music composed and performed by Craig Adams, was brilliantly performed by a cast which had only just met. A very strong and intense experience. We are proud to be part of anything Clare Prenton (also the founder of Made in the Borders) wants to do, and excited to report that Men Don't Talk is about to start a national tour!"
"Tideline Runners from Berwick, driven by charismatic dynamo, Rob Flynn, with intense and deep and emotional plays as have featured twice before at DunsPlayFest, were back in 2024 with The Honorable Gentleman, about the 1973 scandal involving call girl Norma Levy and Conservative politician Tony Lambton. While telling the story in brisk and catty fashion, Flynn's script manages to incorporate a coruscating condemnation of the double standards involved: the upper-class man who paid slid off to a life of ease; the working girl, exposed, lurched from catastrophe to disaster. Strong stuff. Excellent show."
The Rejects
Shark Bait Theatre
A new play about competition, being a slave to capitalism, and the inconvenient human instinct to crumble at rejection.
Five strangers, who mistakenly think they’re well adjusted, go for a pint after being interviewed for the same lousy job. As the night progresses, the beers and response-emails roll in and one by one the group are rejected. Each discovers that they may not be able to handle rejection quite as well as they originally thought. We see their ability to put on a brave face around their competition diminish with each round of beers. Follow these five strangers on a journey of bonding over the shared trauma of rejection.
‘‘An incredibly promising debut for writer and company alike’’ ~ The Scotsman
​‘Breathlessly comic and cleverly put together. ’ ~ AllEdinburghTheatre
Maria McDonnell presents
Miss Lindsay's Secret
Come in. Shut the door. Open the Box. What’s inside? ‘An outstanding and heartbreakingly beautiful
play’ (Jenny Gilruth, Scottish Culture Minister 2021) A museum curator finds hidden letters binding
Glenesk to Canada’s Klondike goldrush. But should she tell their intimate secrets? A true tale of
sewing and 1900’s sexting, revealed by The Curator, The Musician and The Man. Four and five star
reviews. ‘Powerful’ (Broadway Baby), ‘A delight’ (British Theatre Guide), ‘Confidently sweeps us away’
(Wee Review)
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El Duglas
Performed by
Iain Fraser and John Nichol
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New Writing from Hot Trod Theatre Company
Every year, in the Andalucian town of Teba, an event is held in honour of the heroic deeds of Sir James Douglas, often known as ‘The Black Douglas’, who fought and died there in the Battle of Teba in 1330. He was on his way to the Holy Land with the embalmed heart of his friend, Robert the Bruce. Sir James was Bruce’s ablest lieutenant and the most professional soldier of his day, whose menacing resourcefulness and outright genius undoubtedly led to victory in the Scottish Wars of Independence. Who better to tell his story than the Bruce himself?
2023
DunsPlayFest 23 was a tantalising mix of new writing, new drama, music, dance, poetry, workshops and cabaret. The Volunteer Hall, decorated by Allanbank Arts, was a buzzing festival hub, with outlying venues including Duns Park, Duns Castle and Southfields and over 60 shows to delight and enthrall.
Some more of our 2023 highlights included
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Firebrand in association with Aurora Nova
WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT By Nassim Soleimanpour
Dramaturgy by Daniel Brooks and Ross Manson
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​Forbidden to leave his country, playwright Nassim Soleimanpour distilled the experience of an entire generation in a wild, utterly original play.
​Since its joint premiere in 2011 in Edinburgh and Summerworks festival, White Rabbit Red Rabbit has been translated into more than 30 different languages and has been performed over 3,000 times with a different actor or actress reading the script cold for the first time. White Rabbit Red Rabbit was originally produced by Volcano Theatre in association with Necessary Angel and Wolfgang Hoffmann.
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​"Wildly unpredictable and completely unforgettable, White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is a punch in the air for self-expression; a testament to the power of words to transcend cultures and borders. You have to be there."
- New Zealand Herald
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The Smallest Story by RJ Flynn
TideLine Runners
DunsPlayFest hosted the world premiere of this acclaimed comedy drama about how to survive grief by playwright RJ Flynn founder of theatre company Tideline Runners
Country Scotland:
Whit Like is it?
The erudite Professor Stramash, aka John McEwen, enlightened and entertained our audience with his vigorous, scholarly (and frequently hilarious) attempt to answer this question.
Rowanank Environmental Arts presentes:
A most glorious and inspiring day full of stories, magic and wonder and the joy of circus!
Moving Images Solar Powered Cinema
A wonderful addition to our festival, people of all ages enjoyed this intimate and unique cinema experience showing a selection of films from makers in the South of Scotland. We love supporting local environmental arts initiatives.
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