Episode 237: Claire Love Wilson

Persistent and Nasty

In this episode Elaine chats to Canadian theatre maker Claire Love Wilson. We talk about their show Morag You’re a Long Time Died. Which is touring Scotland/Ireland/England this month after a successful month at the Edinburgh Festival. We chat about the show, generational relationships and much more. Tickets here: http://clairelovewilson.com/morag-youre-a-long-time-deid Morag You’re a Long Time Died Morag’s death left a silence in her place. When her grand-daughter Sam inherits her piano, she also inherits the mystery of Morag’s story. An intimate letter composed of fragmented Scottish ballads leads Sam to uncover Morag’s possible queerness. In piecing together Morag’s history through their shared Scottish musical heritage, Sam discovers a voice of her own. This new experimental musical warps, disrupts, and reconfigures traditional Scottish storytelling, ballad singing and participatory community dance. Reimagining ceilidh theatre from a queer perspective, original compositions are playfully interwoven with electronic loops and interactive dancing to tell old stories anew. Claire Love Wilson Claire Love Wilson (she/they) is queer white/Scottish settler multidisciplinary artist living on the ancestral and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) First Nations. She works as a theatre-maker, actor, playwright, musician, and singer-songwriter. Claire has been featured as a creator and performer at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, the rEvolver festival, The Shift Festival, and Theatre Under the Gun in collaboration with companies like The Only Animal, Urban Ink, the frank theatre, Aphotic Theatre and ITSAZOO Theatre. Claire has also facilitated workshops on her personal loop- based performance practice “Song-Walking” locally as part of Interplay Festival and the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival, as well as internationally at the University of The West of Scotland, the Scottish Storytelling Centre, and BAM in Paris. Claire is the co- creator, lead performer and co-producer of the experimental musical “Morag, You’re a Long Time Deid” (MORAG), which works to queer traditional Scottish ballads through loop-based soundscaping and storytelling. As a work in development MORAG has been showcased at the National Theatre of Scotland, The Scottish Storytelling Centre and at PushOff! in Vancouver. The production premiered as part of Touchstone Theatre’s 45th anniversary season in June 2022. MORAG had its UK premiere at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and is now on tour in Scotland, Ireland and England. OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk HIPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES Equity Toolkit: Link Stellar Quines: Link Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Email – [e-mail] Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE