This project started life as a short story I wrote in 2024. In 2026 I received support from Arts D&G’s Support for Ambition Fund to develop it as the first draft of a play and present this as a rehearsed reading to a public audience.
The Ridge is set in a post-collapse world, largely water. High ground has become ‘Ridges’ – island communities practising subsistence farming and different ways to self-organise. Tarana and her son Boon, arrive by boat at Autumn Ridge as part of a group of migrants. They are welcomed and shown how this community sustains an egalitarian way of life, their origin story represented through three ‘Tellings’: regularly performed stories carrying community values.
At the centre of this sustainable way of living sit stories – values and history enacted through narrative and song. The play references mythic figures from Celtic, European and Eastern cultures and the three ‘Tellings’ are presented in different forms, from verse narrative to bouffon and mummery.
The story was in part inspired by a talk by documentarian and indigenous rights advocate, Bruce Parry, when he described living with the Penan tribe of Borneo who sustain a non-hierarchical, peaceful community with very strong women. The experience challenged the dominant narrative that humans are naturally competitive and aggressive – qualities which, in the last few percentiles of human history, have brought us to the brink of climate and ecosystem collapse.
Rehearsed Reading
We presented sections of the script to an audience at Old School Thornhill on 28th August 2026. It was directed by Rod Dixon and performed by Lucy Doig, Joe Johnson, Darach Smythe and Eve Taylor, with sound design by Rory Gordziejko.
Audience response in the discussion part of the evening exceeded our expectations and our experience of these kind of sharings; not only was the feedback overwhelmingly positive in terms of the content, but the depth of engagement with the story, issues and questions arising from the play was exceptional and enthusiasm for further development of the project was strong. Several people who were there that night have subsequently told me they had thought deeply about the play since. And others who were unable to be there said they wished they had been as it sounded powerful and interesting.
Future Plans
This strengthened our belief that The Ridge has a strong future potential .Our vision for The Ridge is a site-specific, immersive performance on the land at Forest Ridge project with a cast of professional performers and a community chorus. The audience is sometimes part of the action – as new arrivals hearing the Tellings – and sometimes observing scenes as audience. I am currently working to develop partnerships, ideas and support to realise this vision in 2028.
