Musical Performance by Islander at Herberger Theater
THE MIST UNFURLS. AN ISLAND DIVIDES. A FUTURE IS BORN.There is a girl. She stares out to sea and dreams of a new life beyond her lonely island. Myth and reality collide when the tide washes a mysterious stranger onto her beach. Islander’s music and story transports you on a magical journey combining a contemporary Scottish folk/pop-inspired score and epic storytelling. January 13 - 28, 2024 at Herberger Theater. For more information visit herbergertheater.org/islander
Transcript
00:00 The Herberger is very excited to take you to another place in the world.
00:08 It is the Islander and it is performed by actually a cast just two, but I have both
00:13 cast here for this amazing show that's there at the Herberger.
00:17 And we're going to learn a little about the Islander because it takes us to a mythical,
00:22 can I say that?
00:23 Yeah.
00:24 Place in Scotland.
00:25 And so Lewis is with me.
00:26 How are you?
00:27 Hi, I'm good.
00:28 Let's meet the cast here.
00:29 So I'm Lewis Craig.
00:30 I play Ailey.
00:32 And I'm Julia Murray.
00:33 I play Aaron.
00:34 I'm Sylvie Stenson.
00:36 I also play Ailey.
00:38 And I'm Stephanie McGarry and I also play Aaron.
00:40 And what's amazing about this performance is that it's all done with this piece of equipment
00:46 right here.
00:47 So let's talk about the, of course, the play.
00:50 Where'd this all come from and what's it about?
00:52 Yeah, so it's all centered around a little fictional Scottish Island called Kinnan and
00:57 the townspeople there deciding whether they stay as they are or they move on to the main
01:01 lands and sort of all the different opinions that come with that.
01:04 And peppered on top of that is sort of a mix of Scottish folklore, a lot of whales, which
01:08 would make sense if you came into our show.
01:11 And everything is made by this amazing little creation called the Loop Station.
01:16 So I think in total we play about 27 characters between the two of us.
01:20 Whales, babies, men, women, everything.
01:23 We do it all with the help of this and lots of magic that comes with that.
01:27 And so was it hard to learn, of course, the language, the music and everything?
01:31 Yeah, totally.
01:32 It was a journey for all of us.
01:34 You're used to being supported by a band in musical theatre and held up by it a lot of
01:39 times.
01:40 So this was quite daunting.
01:41 It was quite a vulnerable experience at first.
01:43 But after three weeks of rehearsal split between us all, we've managed it.
01:46 That's good.
01:47 And I am picking up the accent.
01:49 And sometimes we have performers coming here that are fully in character.
01:53 But you four are not.
01:54 You're actually from Scotland.
01:55 Yes, yeah.
01:56 There's a couple of us from similar places.
01:58 Myself and Lois are from Fife.
02:00 These lovely ladies are from Glasgow.
02:02 So we kind of represent different parts of Scotland.
02:06 And then within this, different parts again as well.
02:08 And how fun is it to actually perform this way, like she said, no band or anything like
02:12 that, but to perform this way with just two people on stage doing all the characters?
02:16 Yeah, it's got such a brilliant payoff when it goes really well.
02:20 Like when you hit it and it's brilliant.
02:23 It's so fun.
02:24 But if not...
02:25 Then we carry on and keep going and push through to the end.
02:31 Is there anything the audience needs to know?
02:33 Like any special words you're going to throw out there and they're not going to understand
02:36 or anything they should...
02:38 Any one or two words when they get there, they're like, "Aha, I know what that is."
02:41 I feel like Gran is probably...
02:43 Julia plays the Gran character.
02:44 Yes, I play a Gran character.
02:45 She has a mix of a few different Scottish languages, Scots and Doric.
02:49 And I don't think there's any Gaelic in there.
02:51 But a particular favorite which does come up in the show is "Eegit," which means "idiot,"
02:57 if you need to insult anyone.
02:58 Say it again.
02:59 Eegit.
03:00 Eegit.
03:01 Yes, perfect.
03:02 Yes.
03:03 Do not use that here, staff, on me.
03:06 All right?
03:07 Well, this is awesome.
03:08 This is at the Herberger until January 29th.
03:09 You got to go check it out.
03:10 But right now, we're going to get a great performance from Islander.
03:17 [music]
03:22 [applause]
03:42 [music]
04:00 This is my school, mind the drip.
04:02 And the mess.
04:04 How are you feeling?
04:06 Better.
04:07 I'll find my fitting soon.
04:08 We won't stay long.
04:09 Just wait out the storm and then home.
04:12 Last time I looked in here, goats were grazing on the Easy Readers.
04:16 It's weird.
04:17 This was my second home when I was wee.
04:20 Every wall, every room, every mark drawn on the corridor.
04:26 I know it all, every bit, like the back of my hand.
04:31 The giant Jenga, the map of the world, the tiny kitchen, the plastic pasta.
04:36 Ailee's creamy mac and cheese was the greatest in the land.
04:41 Stranger than the songs and stories ever told me.
04:46 A stranger on the shore and ground that tries to hold me down.
04:51 What is this house for?
04:53 It's a school.
04:54 You said, tell more.
04:55 It's just a school.
04:56 It's where we learn.
04:57 In here?
04:58 Didn't you?
04:59 Oh, your home school.
05:00 Learning, yes, at home and outside.
05:03 So you mean like a forest school?
05:05 Forest school.
05:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]