Current Shows
The Matchmaker
by John B Keane.
'The most moving, the most hilarious, the most engaging piece of theatre I have seen in a long time. The characteristaion is heartfelt and utterly convincing. Marvellous! A delight!' - Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE
The Splinters Productions team were delighted to give the first performances of a new adaptation of "The Matchmaker" by Donald Smith at the Scottish Story Telling Centre on 29th and 30th April 2011.
Adapted from Keane's hilariously unabashed classic "Letters of a Matchmaker", it tells the story of Dicky Mick Dicky O'connor, a County Kerry farmer who is determined to use all his cunning and intuition to hook-up the hotchpotch of lonely hearts residing in his rural town of Ballybarra.
The characters and their tales are a mixture of comic, tragic, dramatic and bizzare - a delightful gallery of glorious eccentrics, from a jovial, five foot, seven stone jockey to a sex straved spinster who all voice their hopes, dreams and aspirations as the search for a match marches on.
Yet underneath the witty satire lies the strong sense of human need, with a powerful assertion of the importance of human contact.
Home to Neverland, A Window on J.M. Barrie
'The Splinters quartet show their author and their performances can be transfixing' - Three Weeks
From Neverland to the glens of Scotland, from magical islands to Arctic wastes, from society drawing rooms to couthy firesides-everywhere, Barrie is the master storyteller and your guide. His eagle eye exposes the humour, cruely, love and dreams that make up the theatre of life.
But lurking in all the stories- Peter Pan, Julie Logan, What Every Woman Knows, The Twelve Pound Look - there is the enigma of Barrie himself. The lad from Kirriemuir who became the world's leading playwright. The man who moved between whimsy and the tragedy of war. The boy who would never grow old.
Splinters take their previous long-running successes to a new level with this magical four hander. Time quite literally flies.
Devised and Directed by Donald Smith and Splinters Productions.
For the Islands I Sing
'A magical story telling spell was cast' - Borders Telegraph
A celebration of Mackay Brown's Orkney, where he tells stories of love, birth and death through the eyes of the crofter, fisherman, innkeeper and the tinker.
With much humour throughout, the audience will be captivated by the wonderful storytelling.
In the play, an old crofter tries to get his son to marry a rich widow but ends up marrying her himself, a sailor sets out to 'woo', but after the fifth pub stop, decides to love his boat instead and a young man falls into the hands of three daughters instead of one!
For the Islands I Sing is a great opportunity to enjoy the work of one of Scotland's best-loved story-tellers.
An 'Under Milk Wood' for the North.
Devised by Literary Director Donald Smith, in association with the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
Scot of the Anarchic
'The many characters come to life thanks to the sterling efforts of an experienced cast' - The Courier
These village dramas are by turns moving, hilarious and uplifting. We meet a host of fascinating characters: Sam Spaid, Mrs Napoleon, One-eyed Angus, Timoshenko, 'Captain' Kenneth John and most delightfully eccentric of all Murdo - the author's alter ego - a kind of Scottish Don Quixote tilting at the 20th Century!
Crichton Smith's themes range from exile and loneliness to stoicism and final redemption, always tempered by his distinctive off-beat humour.