Doorways in Drumorty shines light on the incredible life of Lorna Moon
A book by an Aberdeenshire novelist whose work was once banned in her home town is about to tour Scotland as a play. Jennifer Cosgrove caught up with playwright Mike Gibb to discuss the story of an extraordinary woman who moved to America and became a Hollywood scriptwriter.
Michelle Bruce and Fraser Sivewright star in Doorways In Drumorty.
- By Jennifer Cosgrove
- Published in the Courier : 12.09.11
- Published online : 12.09.11 @ 08.44pm
"She crammed a lot into her short life. Quite a lady!" says Mike of Lorna Moon, who was born Nora Helen Wilson Low in the north-east village of Strichen in 1886.
Before her death from tuberculosis in 1930 at the age of only 44, Lorna had married twice, had three children — including the illegitimate child of William De Mille, the brother of American film director Cecil B. De Mille — written an acclaimed novel and short stories and forged a successful career as a film writer.
"Women didn't go off, leave Strichen and end up as screenwriters in Hollywood," Mike says. "The story was she got there by seeing a Cecil B. De Mille film and writing a letter to him criticising the screenplay. He wrote back to say: 'If you think you can do better then over you come!' It's a good story — I hope it's true!"
After Lorna left Strichen to pursue a life away from her small village, she never returned to Scotland, but her experiences remained with her, eventually translating into works of fiction.
Near the end of her life, from a sanatorium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she penned novel Dark Star and collected short stories Doorways In Drumorty, both of which are set in rural Scotland.
An amusing depiction of rural life in the 1920s, at the time Doorways In Drumorty was published Strichen residents were shocked and outraged to find themselves portrayed as thinly-disguised characters. For this reason, Lorna's writing was banned from the local library.
These days, Strichen has moved on, and last year a plaque was unveiled in honour of its famous daughter, who died more than 80 years ago.
- Doorways in Drumorty is at Perth Theatre on September 14, Netherbow Theatre, Edinburgh, on September 17, The Byre Theatre, St Andrews, on September 22, the Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, on September 30 and Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, on October 5. For more information visit: redragtheatre.co.uk or hamepages.com
Mike came to playwriting and musical theatre after he retired from the world of business aged 50. A keen reviewer, he had travelled the world writing for and editing show music publications.
For the last 15 years, he has been writing for the stage and his work includes the musical A Land Fit For Heroes, Dundee-themed trilogy Mother of all the Peoples, Five Pound And Twa Bairns and Sunday Mornings On Dundee Law, and Lest We Forget, about the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster in 1988.
He explains: "The criteria I work on is I will only write on Scottish subjects — but there is plenty to keep me busy."
Mike admits he had been aware of Lorna Moon for some time, but it didn't really hit home there could be something for him in her work until he read Doorways In Drumorty.
"They really are excellent books. Dark Star is quite a strange book in that there are bits that are very fanciful, which are unlike the rest of her writing — very down to earth.
"It is a novel set in an imaginary place but it was somewhere round about Fraserburgh — very much a local village.
"When I read Doorways In Drumorty I thought: 'Wow, I can see something in this.' So I began working on it and it came to the point where I had about half a play, but then something else came up and suddenly it was confined to the equivalent of the bottom drawer on the computer."
Aberdeen-based theatre company RedRag produced Mike's play Lest We Forget and, when the run was over, a chance conversation with the group led to his Lorna Moon project coming back to life.
Continued...
06.33pm - 15.01.2012 Andrew - Strichen, Aberdeenshire Report This
Fantastic. A great play, well done. Shame Lorna's final resting place on Mormond Hill is about to become a huge wind farm. At least we will always have the play to remind us of her.
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