Perth Theatre is to build up to its official reopening by bringing its plays to the people of Perth and Kinross through a series of off-site productions.
The £16.5 million transformation of the theatre is due to be completed in late 2017 but all involved are not standing idle meantime.
Artistic director Lu Kemp has put together the programme after meeting local people, and talking to schools and organisations across Perthshire.
Community is at the heart of the off-site programme which includes a tour of rural venues, collaboration with local people on two new shows, schools’ performances and children’s theatre, combining the best existing work from across the UK with new work by some of Scotland’s theatre companies.
Highlights include a tour of the award-winning play And Then Come the Nightjars, which charts the chaos that Foot and Mouth disease caused communities and friendships when it swept through the British countryside.
Alongside the tour, award-winning playwright Kieran Hurley and director Lu Kemp will be talking to members of the community across Perthshire about the changes in agriculture and land ownership across the past two decades.
These conversations will form the basis for a new piece of documentary theatre, drawing directly on interviews with local people, which will be performed in Perth Theatre when it reopens.
Another production earmarked for its finale in the newly-refurbished theatre is The 306: Day.
The second part of the 306 Trilogy, The 306: Day follows last year’s production of The 306: Dawn, staged last May in Dalcrue Farm, Perthshire. The final part of the trilogy will be performed in 2018.
There will also be a number of performances at venues across the region.
Schools productions include Tortoise in a Nutshell and Theatre Katapult’s Fisk in Perth Grammar School on Tuesday February 14, while Lu will direct Oliver Emmanuel’s English version of Jan Sobrie’s Titus in a touring school production which runs from March 7 to 15.
Lu said: “We are programming a season of work both in the lead-up to the theatre reopening and once we open our doors, which we hope will entertain and engage our audiences with stories that matter to them.
“We want to bring them theatre performances which transform and transport them, and for the theatre itself to be a place which engages people in conversation with us and with their community.”