ABSTRACT
Eun Bheag Chanaidh (Little Bird Blown Off Course) is a unique Gaelic music theatre project, pioneered by the National Theatre of Scotland, demonstrating the potential to combine the traditional Gaelic Arts with non-traditional trends in Scottish National Theatre, directly or indirectly influencing alternative public conceptions of Scottishness in the Arts. This unique devised multimedia production told the story of American Margaret Fay Shaw and Scots folklorist John Lorne Campbell and their unique archive collection of transcribed and recorded Gaelic song, history, photography, film and folklore, depicting a now disappeared way of Hebridean life. Original archive material and videography, with a live band headed by Donald Shaw of celtic superband Capercaillie, portrayed the message of the importance of preservation and development of our national archive resources, using traditional material to create and develop new, exciting art accessible to all. It toured the Highlands and Celtic Connections in 2014, after development with an international production team on the tiny, stormbound island of Canna in the Hebrides.
