The National Theatre of Scotland and HOME, Manchester presents the world premiere production of Red Dust Road, Jackie Kay’s touching and affecting memoir of her life growing up as a mixed race adopted Scot.
Adapted for the stage by Tanika Gupta and directed by Dawn Walton, Red Dust Road will open at the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival, before playing at HOME, Manchester in September 2019, and touring to the Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling, and Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, in autumn 2019.
From the moment when, as a little girl, she realises that her skin is a different colour from that of her beloved mum and dad, to the tracing and finding of her Highland mother and Nigerian father birth parents, Jackie Kay’s journey in Red Dust Road is one of unexpected twists, turns and deep emotions.
First published in 2010, the book has been hailed for its warmth and candour, winning the Scottish Book of the Year Award in 2011. Navigating the challenges
of growing up as a mixed-race adopted Scot, Jackie discovers that inheritance is about much more than genes: that we are shaped by songs as much as by cells, and that what triumphs, ultimately, is love.
This production will be brought to life by a dynamic creative team, including playwright Tanika Gupta, the winner of the 2018 James Tait Black Prize for Drama, and director Dawn Walton, the founder and Artistic Director of Eclipse Theatre, one of the UK’s foremost black-led theatre companies.
Jackie Kay, who has been a patron of HOME since it opened in 2015, is a celebrated poet and writer who has picked up numerous awards for her novels and story collections, as well as writing extensively for television and the stage. She was awarded an MBE in 2006, and made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002. She was named Scots Makar – the National Poet for Scotland – in March 2016. Red Dust Road has been developed with the support of Macrobert Arts Centre, and is the National Theatre of Scotland’s first co- production with HOME.
Red Dust Road sees the National Theatre of Scotland return to the Edinburgh International Festival, following the successful revival of David Greig and Gordon McIntyre’s Midsummer in 2018, as well as previous productions including Realism, The Bacchae, 365, Caledonia, The James Plays, Dragon, Paul Bright’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner and Anything that Gives Off Light, which also tours to the USA in 2019.
Red Dust Road runs at HOME in September 2019. Tickets will go on sale in spring 2019.
