On 22 January 2022, Hebridean arts organisation sruth-mara hosted an online gathering to mark the 20th anniversary of playwright John McGrath’s death, and to ask: did a largely forgotten Hebridean play help kickstart the formation of his famous theatre company 7:84?

McGrath’s play Random Happenings in the Hebrides premiered three years before his most famous show, The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black Black Oil. It was McGrath’s first ever Scottish production, and also the first time he’d written about the politics of the Highlands and Islands.

Random Happenings was staged at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre in 1970, directed by Richard Eyre with a cast including John Thaw, John Cairney and a young Denis Lawson. Half a century on it’s been almost forgotten. The Cheviot, McGrath’s second Scottish production (and 7:84 Scotland’s debut show), toured to community venues across the country three years later. It is now recognised as a landmark in Scottish theatre.

A Hebridean Happening for John McGrath brought together theatre director Richard Eyre, Lewis-based actor John Stahl (Game of Thrones, High Road), Dolina Maclennan (singer, actor, writer, broadcaster and former 7:84 cast member), playwright Alan Bissett, Scotsman theatre critic Joyce McMillan, and performers Daibhidh Walker, Laura Cameron-Lewis and Jane Paton to explore the play’s legacy through conversation and readings from the play.

The event was instigated by John Stahl and produced by sruth-mara, and broadcast from Uig on the Isle of Lewis. We are grateful to Kate McGrath and the estate of John McGrath for allowing us to perform extracts from the play, and also An Lanntair for allowing us to promote and ticket the event via its website.

Leukaemia UK 

John McGrath died from leukaemia on 22 January 2002.

Someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer every 16 minutes. Blood cancer is the fifth most common type of cancer in the UK. Leukaemia UK supports those affected by leukaemia and other blood cancers through the physical, psychological and emotional uncertainty that may come with a diagnosis, working to fund innovative and effective research for better treatments and care.

Donate to Leukaemia UK here.

“John McGrath was a beacon to us all.”  – Bill Paterson

“No one since Joan Littlewood did more to advance the cause of popular theatre in Britain than John McGrath” – Michael Billington.

A Hebridean Happening for John McGrath (excerpt)

AUNTIE MORAG

My sweet wee Auntie Morag lives in Stornoway
on the fabled Isle of Lewis, where they know more sheep than trees.

In the balmy, gulf-streamed summer
it's an island-hopper's treat:
tourists love its isolation
but off-season deprivations
and a dwindling population
mean, for many locals, having
more than one string to your bow's
the only way to make ends meet.

So...

Two days a week, my auntie runs a car-wash;
inbetweentimes, she cleans rentals for a lettings agency,
then from midweek to the Sabbath she's no time to take her ease,
cos she's the only dominatrix in the Outer Hebrides.

A fervent Scottish patriot is our Morag.
Her wee but 'n' ben dungeon sports a proud St Andrew's Cross,
there’s a wall of tartan gimp-masks and no doubting who's the boss
in her red stiletto ghillie brogues and basque of Harris Tweed.
With the tools and skills to satisfy the most arcane of needs
– she can do things with a thistle that'll bring you to your knees! –
she's the only dominatrix in the Outer Hebrides.

A hit with local tradesmen and professionals 
for her reciprocal arrangements – fair exchange of expertise –
she flogs three market traders, services the garage man;
the vet's a loyal client, comes as often as he can
(which means as often as she'll let him – not a lot: she's such a tease!)
She rids him of his demons: he rids her dog of fleas,
cos she's the only dominatrix in the Outer Hebrides.

The twins who run the deli on the high street
each take turns to be belaboured on alternate Saturdays.
They can't afford full price in cash, so turn up bearing gifts – a stash
of fancy groceries: we're talking Olives, Truffle oil, Prosciutto,
Patés, Antipasti, Pesto, Chutneys, Chillies, Cheese...
My auntie's got a freezer full of Camemberts and Bries.
Well, she's the only dominatrix in the Outer Hebrides!

All-embracing, non-judgemental, ecumenical, 
aunt Morag welcomes every creed: each month her diary sees
eleven catholics, four pagans, three vedantic devotees,
one methodist (he's primitive, but clean and keen to please)
...and, during Lent, a regiment of penitent Wee Frees
for the only dominatrix in the Outer Hebrides.

Her clientèle's far-flung and international,
her catchment area massive: CalMac ferries cross the seas
to the only dominatrix in the Outer Hebrides.

There are brooding Scandinavians... Icelandics and Orcadians...
a submarine commander, the occasional Newfoundlander,
a throuple from Cape Wrath, Thurso’s one and only Goth,
and trawlermen in oilskins (who never take them off).
She can scold in Gaelic, Doric, Finnish, Manx and Faroese,
for she's the only dominatrix in the Outer Hebrides.

Should a scene become a mite too operatic
– a punter get too noisy when she's busy at the job –
if she tires of hearing cries of "Crivens!", "Jings!" and "Help m'boab!",
Mistress Morag has a surefire means of silencing the sobs.
She switches off her hearing aid!  Oblivious to their pleas
is the only dominatrix in the Outer Hebrides.

I worry, though: from time to time I question
how much longer she can stand the pace. She pays me little heed:
"Retire?  Awa' an' bile yer heid – I'm barely 93!
Besides, I've planned for when my hobby gets too much for me.
I've a hard drive full of videos and an OnlyFans I.D.!"
says my spry and sprightly auntie.
So here's my glass – and sláinte –
to the only dominatrix in the Outer Hebrides.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

© Ken Cumberlidge 12-12-2021

Auntie Morag (Live at the REST Cafe, Norwich, 21st Dec 2024)

KEN CUMBERLIDGE: POETRY
To see the full text and publication details of any poem, click on its track title.

"Honest, unflinching, emotionally intelligent and stunningly crafted." - Cathy Carson

Multiple slam-winner, finalist at Hammer & Tongue Cambridge 2018 and 2019, Ken Cumberlidge cut his performance teeth on the pub poetry scene of the 1970s.

Since 2011 Ken has been based in Norwich, but can be lured out of cover by good company and an open mic - a proclivity that has led him to become an habitué of the slam poetry/spoken word scene.

Ken writes about love, sex, nature, loss, identity and queerness, with an occasional foray into the eerie and macabre.  Poke him with a sharp enough stick and he may even wake up long enough to get shouty about politics.

His work has appeared widely in print and online (Algebra of Owls / Allegro / As Above So Below / Bi All Accounts / Bogg / The Fiction Pool / Fire&Dust Anthology / Fragmented Voices / Impspired / Ink, Sweat & Tears / Ludd's Mill / Message in a Bottle / The Open Mouse / Picaroon / Pulsar / Pure Slush / Rat's Ass Review / Runcible Spoon / SMOKE / Snakeskin / Songs of Eretz / Spilling Cocoa… / Strange Poetry / Talking Soup / Timber Ghost Press ...etc).

Headline/featured poet at numerous events/venues, including:

Allographic Open Mic
Beth Hartley "A Holding" book launch
Cambridge PRIDE
FenSpeak
Fire&Dust, Coventry
Hammer & Tongue, Cambridge
High St Poetry, Ely
Incite! LGBTQIA+ Spoken Word Cabaret
Last Poet Standing, Norwich
Oooh Beehive
Poetry at Jurnet's
Poetry Non-Stop podcast
St Andrews Festival, Cambridge
Sunday Night Lives at the Flying Pig
Vron McIntyre "Random Trail" book launch

New tracks tagged #Outer Hebrides