Writing is 'in the genes' for Glenna Morrison as she looks ahead to Edinburgh Festival Fringe show
Wick actress Glenna Morrison has been reflecting on how writing is "in the genes" as she looks ahead to taking her first play to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Guffy is centred around three generations of one family and Glenna describes it as "an allegorical tale" on the theme of Scotland's past, present and potential future.
Glenna left Wick at 18 to train in London and has worked professionally in theatre, film and TV for 30 years. Guffy is the first play she has written, and she is also producing and directing it.
“Over the years I've dabbled with writing, bits of TV scripts and things, but never actually put the real effort into it and tried to get it made," Glenna (52) explained. "I just felt the need to create.”
She is the daughter of the late David Morrison, well-known Wick poet, painter, editor and librarian, while her brother Ewan is an award-winning novelist, scriptwriter and essayist.
“Having dad always as a writer, and Ewan as a prolific writer too, I have been surrounded by that mindset and that creativity," Glenna said. "They say the Morrisons way back were scribes from the islands – so it seems it is in the genes, to be scribes.”
Glenna is now based in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, and her mother Edna has moved there too. A recording of Edna's voice will be heard by audiences as she performs Dream Angus, the song that opens and closes the play.
“It's a song that she always used to sing to the kids when they were little and she used to sing to us, myself and Ewan,” Glenna said.
Guffy was selected by the Edinburgh National Partnership as the play to represent Pitlochry Festival Theatre and the Pleasance Theatre in London at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It will be performed at the Pleasance Courtyard Venue 33 for the duration of the festival, from August 2-28, with the exception of three dates.
Cast members are young drama graduate Georgia Blue Ireland in the title role and experienced actress Ceit Kearney as Alba, Guffy's mother.
“Guffy formulated itself over a period of years," Glenna revealed. "It came out of listening to people that I knew – just observing, I suppose.
“She [Guffy] is strong and she's feisty and she's got her own opinions. It's an allegorical tale, so it's three generations in one family coexisting in what they call the bottom end of Alloa. It's an area that a lot of people criticise, but the people that live there are the same as anywhere else – they've maybe just not had as good a chance or a start in life.
“She's a spirited person, she's had struggles and she's fighting through them. Life hasn't been easy on her and hasn't given her a break.
“I had set it up as an allegory of the nation, so Guffy is the present and Alba is the past and the bairn is the future. It's not a political piece – it's just that those themes do tie in to the way that Scotland was, the way that Scotland is, and the way that Scotland could be."
A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help with the costs. The web page contains a video clip about the play.
Glenna explained: “They give you the venue and they give you a grant that covers some of your marketing and then the rest is up to you, hence the crowdfunder. It's covering things like wages and travel and costumes."
Student Dominic de Mountfalcon will be in charge of lights and sound.
Glenna added: "I feel really lucky. I know how hard it is and I know how many writers struggle to get plays on. I feel privileged to have the chance."
A former pupil of Pulteneytown Academy and Wick High, she trained at London's East 15 Acting School and, after graduating, formed Les Fleurs du Mal Theatre Company.
Her stage roles have ranged from Charlotte Brontë to Björk as well as the character Allison in Trainspotting, while her TV work has included The Bill, Taggart, Two Thousand Acres of Sky, Casanova and River City.
Her lead role in Hearing Things co-starring Felicity Jones won them a best film award at the Moondance International Film Festival.
Last autumn Glenna attended an event in Wick commemorating the 10th anniversary of her father's passing. David Morrison was 71 when he died suddenly in September 2012.
He launched the Wick Festival of Poetry, Folk and Jazz and founded the radical literary magazine Scotia Review which he edited for 34 years.
A bench in his memory was installed at Wick's Braehead in 2022.
