The Storm Watchers

The play The Storm Watchers was originally written as a short piece to be part of a pageant in the late Sixties in Stromness.  The work was later performed in its own right with some additions.  A powerful and poetic piece, the drama presents the lives, anxieties, regrets, fears and memories of women as they deal with the waiting and the aftermath of a storm with all their men at sea.  Filmed in lockdown in Orkney this project has involved technology, remote rehearsal, mobile phone cameras and much more besides.  In this year of Mackay Brown's 100th birthday, it brings to life one of his early but also most powerful pieces of theatre.

The creation of this film was a triumph over difficult times with complex methods where the usual way would be simplicity itself.    Filming was done personally by many performers or by their partners and homes, garages and beaches became film sets.    Many contributed to the end product and the Festival would like to pay tribute and thank all those named and un-named in the success of this project.