The stage is set for the National Theatre of Scotland, as the company announces its return to live performances with a world premiere production.
Opening at the SEC Armadillo in Glasgow next April, the show will then tour the country, adapting the story of a cult classic film for the stage.
Set in Glasgow’s southside, Orphans is a dark, comic musical, following the lives of four siblings on a stormy night.
After the death of their mother, each spends their night differently: in church, roaming the streets, seeking revenge and striving to live life on their own terms.
The question, however, is will they will survive to attend their mother’s funeral the next day?
Reworking the story told in director Peter Mullan’s feature film debut of the same name, in turn based on a book by Douglas Maxwell, the show will also run at King’s Theatre, Edinburgh and Eden Court, Inverness.
Music and lyrics for the performance have been composed by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly, the Scottish duo also behind the film compositions for 2017 musical, Anna and the Apocalypse.
Peter Mullan, writer and director of the film adaptation, said: “It’s a brave and ballsy thing to do, to adapt any film and then put it on stage.
“The story lends itself well to being a musical because, however misplaced, however funny, it’s all about emotion. Orphans is an epic journey through the night.
“The thing that draws you in is the characters, how they interact and what implications there are for the world that’s around them which combine into a cauldron of craziness and grief.”
The stage adaptation will be directed by Cora Bissett and will star Robert Florence, Amy Conachan, Reuben Joseph and Dylan Wood as the four Flynn siblings.
Cora Bissett, director, said: “Orphans is for me, and a secret legion of devotees, the quintessential cult Scottish film and bringing it to the stage now, in this new musical version, couldn’t be more timely.
“Over the last 18 months we have lost family, jobs, relationships, health and… hope, and in some ways we are just finding it again.
“This musical is about raw grief, and the madness that lies within that. The emotions are epic and messy and the songs raucous, and heart aching.
“It’s for people who think they hate musicals but love a great story, and for musical lovers who would like to see a musical rooted firmly in a world that feels like theirs.”
