LIFE by Maria MacDonell – Accessible performances

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BSL Interpreter: Rachel Amey

The BSL performances are: 
7th May @ The Studio, Edinburgh 
17th May @ Birnam Arts Centre
30th May @ CatStrand at Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival 

Audio-Describer: Christopher McKiddie

The Audio-Described performances are: 
7th May @ The Studio, Edinburgh
27th May @ Paisley Arts Centre
29th May @ Eastgate Theatre, Peebles

We will also be offering touch tours before the Paisley Arts Centre & Eastgate Theatre, Peebles performances.

Age 14+

Running Time 65 minutes (no interval)

After a hugely successful 2024 Fringe run at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Maria MacDonell’s stunning new play ‘LIFE’ is touring Scotland this May. 

★★★★★ North West End UK 
★★★★ Corr Blimey
★★★★ The Quinntessential Review

Join Estelle as she models for The Artist. Despite decades of experience, she has never sat for a session like this and with such an outcome, both unexpected, yet perhaps strangely inevitable. 

But she can’t stand sitting any longer. She needs to tell her story. Is it all true? And what is her relationship with the mysterious artist? How does this class change Estelle’s life forever?

LIFE is set in a drawing class. Audiences are gently invited to draw or doodle during the show, or watch the story emerge. Pencil and paper are provided for all and four on-stage tickets are available seated at easels.

Writer/Performer: Maria MacDonell
Director: Ben Harrison
Dramaturg: Laurence Cook
Performer: Leo MacNeill
Lighting Designer & Technician: Roddy Simpson
Producer: Kate Taylor, KT Producing
Associate Producer/ASM: Gaby Thomson
Community Engagement Manager: Eva McKenzie
Costume: Molly MacDonell Finlayson, MacFin
Sound Design: Georgina MacDonell Finlayson

Maria MacDonell is an actor and writer with forty years’ experience in the performing and creative arts. LIFE comes partly from Maria’s experience as an artist’s model and reveals the ideas that come to her when she is paid to sit still. 

Her play Miss Lindsay’s Secret gathered four and five star reviews in Fringe 2021 and 2022, has toured extensively in Scotland and England and, due to popular demand, is still touring.

In 2022, for Made in Scotland, Maria co-wrote and performed The Not So Ugly Duckling: A Play for Grownups with Jo Clifford.

LIFE is supported by the Creative Scotland Touring Fund.

Content warnings: Mild swearing, themes of a sexual nature, references to death, sexual, domestic and physical violence. Please note that whilst LIFE deals with difficult themes, it is portrayed in a humorous and entertaining way. Tickets: https://mariamacdonell.com/life/

An eye-level medium shot, set against a stark black background, captures two actors in what appears to be a theatrical performance. To the left, an older woman with grayish, wavy hair sits facing the viewer in a slightly crouched position, her gaze directed upwards. She wears a long, cream-colored dress adorned with splashes of blue and green. Tassels accent the front of the dress. On the right stands a younger man, also gazing upwards with a smirk. He is clad in a painter’s smock over a white shirt and dark pants. The smock is visibly marked with paint stains. The lighting casts a vibrant red hue across the scene, creating a contrast with the figures and enhancing the dramatic atmosphere.