Airman wide‘…rich in historical significance, and full of contemporary echoes…exceptionally powerful.’ THE SCOTSMAN ****

Home is Not the Place, a powerful, poetic solo show, evolved from a quest by award-winning Keralan-born, Scottish artist Annie George to uncover her creative roots. The play tells the remarkable story of the short life and lost work of Annie’s Indian grandfather, writer PM John, in the years just before India’s independence from British rule in 1947.

Where does the desire to reach beyond the everyday, to communicate and share our thoughts and stories, come from? Is it in our DNA? How does the creative act transform us? Drawn from family memories, John’s surviving work, published history, and authentic, contemporaneous accounts, Annie unwinds a tale of personal and political independence, across three generations in one family, immigrants and pioneers of sorts, in search of ‘who we are, what we are, what we believe’.

Edinburgh Fringe 3-27 Aug 7.20pm, as part of the Made in Scotland showcase, on alternate days – check details at Summerhall Venue 26

Annie says:

‘Writing this play was a way of getting to know my grandfather who’d died long before I was born. It revealed more than I knew of the family’s history, connecting my Indian heritage across five generations to my Indian-Scots children and grandson. There were no other artists in my family apart from him, and had little encouragement in my artistic pursuits. It can be lonely . So, imagine what it was like for him, coming from a poor family in a little village in rural South India of the 1930s, where no one wrote or published books as he did. And because he wrote, seventy five years after PM John died, I could bring him back, as he lives on through his words. We each have – and have the right – to tell our stories, however we can. Our way. If we don’t, our stories will be told and owned by others, and then it would be as if we never existed. As I say in the play, ‘we are history, poured out on to fragile pages’.

‘…an autobiographical, poignant and beautiful account of lineage, identity and what makes home, home’. EDINBURGH GUIDE ****

‘…the toying of language from George is a masterclass in the spoken word…’ THE REVIEWS HUB

CAST AND CREW
Writer/Performer: Annie George
Director: Gerry Mulgrew

Composer/Sound Design: Niroshini Thambar
Design: Morven Mulgrew
Projections: Robert Motyka
Associate Sound Designer: Nik Paget-Tomlinson
Lighting Design: George Tarbuck
Lighting Programmer: Marc Lavallee
Dramaturg: Kevin P Gilday
Technical Stage Manager: Eve Allan
Production Manager: Cassie Smith
Producer: Diljeet Kaur Bhachu
Executive Producer: Annie George
Print Design and Photography: Lindsay Snedden http://www.lunaria.co.uk

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

Nehru Voice Artist: Daya Rasaratnam
Set building: Reeves Carpentry
Projection Content: Created or provided by Lorna Simpson, Jacqueline Matisse, Annie George, Shutterstock

SPECIAL THANKS:
Laura Mackenzie-Stuart, Caroline Newall, Callum Smith, Rachel, Richard and Gemma at NTS, John Dean, Sarah Paulley, Verity Leigh, Staff at Summerhall, Federation of Scottish Theatre

SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND, AND THE MEADOWS AWARD