Grit

Theatre Production

Director

Written by Kieran Hurley

★★★★

“A brilliantly coherent combination of narrative, music, dance, acrobatics and projected imagery. It stands in a Scottish tradition of multiform, event theatre.”

- The Telegraph

An ambitious cross-form, Scots-Canadian site-specific production based on the inspiring life and music of one of Scotland’s most innovative, pioneering and influential musicians; the tragically late Martyn Bennett.

Reflecting Martyn’s own Scots-Canadian heritage, GRIT: The Martyn Bennett Story was an exciting International collaboration with Canada’s renowned choreographer Dana Gingras (of Animals of Distinction) and some of Canada’s finest circus artists who worked alongside an ensemble of Scotland’s dance and aerial artists, actors, live folk singers, and classical musicians, whilst of course featuring Martyn’s groundbreaking dance music in it’s original form.

This production told the painful yet inspiring story of a young man’s phenomenal musical imagination, and his fierce fight against the cancer which ultimately robbed him of his short life at 33. His passion, his fierce love of life, music, the country and people who inspired his ground breaking creations were evoked and explored visually, physically and immersively in this highly ambitious musical adventure.

“It’s not how long you live, it’s what you do with the time you’ve got.”

★★★★

“An irresistible show, borne along on a fine central performance from the great Sandy Grierson as Bennett. If you’re searching for political or emotional subtlety, you won’t find it here. You will, though, experience the raw power of a moment when Scottish culture changed for good, combining a new pride in its past with a hugely dynamic sense of its creative future.”
- The Scotsman