Mairi Campbell: Living Stone
Mairi Campbell: Living Stone is the award-winning final part in the trilogy of solo shows co-created by Mairi,director/devisor Kath Burlinson and musical collaborator Dave Gray. Following Pulse and Auld Lang Syne (Made in Scotland showcases 2016 and 2018) Living Stone completes the trilogy. 'Incredible storyteller… voice is like no other'(EdinburghGuide.com). ‘An exquisite 60-minute show full of wisdom, peace and contemplation.’ (Joyce McMillan,Scotsman).
The journey begins with the discovery of an ancient quern stone on the site of Mairi’s great-grandmother’s croft at Ballymakillichan, Lismore. Mairi shares her explorations of the stone’s stories and mysteries, the images she finds within it and some of the 100 drawings she made of it.
Living Stone is a rich mix of live and recorded music, song, storytelling, audience participation and projected visual images on two different on-stage surfaces, featuring images of the stone created by Roddy Simpson, from footage shot by Julia Fayngruen, and Mairi’s related artwork.
During the performance, Mairi builds a pendulum from three hazel sticks and a piano string, from which hangs the 25 kilo stone, swinging gently to create the pulse that Mairi searched for in the first show in the trilogy. Mairi engages with the history of the stone itself – from its geology to its use for milling, and includes a fictional account of a woman named Peigi who, in the 1700s, was a victim of the change in the law, when home-milling became illegal and landlords sent men to break the crofter’s millstones. The old ways of working are evoked by the singing of Gaelic waulking songs – the grief of Peigi is expressed through Mairi’s own wails of ancestral agony.
The show’s soundtrack is based on notes created when Mairi plays the piano string with her viola bow, creating an eerie resonance that Mairi and Dave Gray used as a springboard for the densely layered backing tracks over which Mairi’s live voice and viola soar. Mairi shares her own dark time, when lockdown and overwhelm isolated her and she lost her way, until a sequence of events involving the Living Stone bring her back into exhilarating community engagement on Lismore, including teaching fiddle to the children at the Primary School, and forming the Lismore Dance band with local residents. In sharing these experiences, audiences are gently invited to sing along and to harmonise, held by Mairi’s decades-long experience as a facilitator.
Mairi Campbell: Living Stone is suitable for audiences who enjoy: true stories, music, storytelling, visual arts, ecology,mysticism, community engagement and history – especially of Scotland and its land. It is a show the dives deeply and shares generously – finding humour in dark places and joy in community and connection. It does not shy away from troubled personal and collective history, but ultimately invites us to listen more attentively to the land and to each other as we navigate these challenging times.
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Dates & Booking
Sep. 20, 2025 8:00pm
Book now -
Ticket Info
Standard - £16.00
Concession - £6.00
© 2025 Event information from Data Thistle.
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