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Ajay Close is a novelist and dramatist. Her first novel, Official and Doubtful, was published by Secker and Warburg and long-listed for the Orange Prize. This was followed by Forspoken, also published by Secker. A third novel, Faking Good, is currently being submitted for publication, and she is working on a new manuscript, The Morality of Slaves. Her first play, The Keekin Gless, about Scots poet William Soutar (in portrait, with Ajay, right), was premiered at Perth Theatre in July 2009.
Ajay’s first career was in journalism, where she won many awards. She has written for Scotland on Sunday, the Scotsman, Sunday Herald, Herald, Scottish Review of Books, Sunday Times, Independent, New Statesman, and other publications.
In a Sma Room
A new musical play about William Soutar, scripted by Ajay, opens in Perth on Saturday May 12 2012, before touring. In a Sma Room is a collaboration between Poorboy Theatre Company and some of Scotland’s top jazz and folk talents.
Jennifer Bates plays Madame Lozatska, the medium channelling the spirits of four people close to Soutar: his mother, his adoptive sister Evie, his kissing-cousin Mollie, and the poet Hugh MacDiarmid.
Jazz guitarist Kevin Mackenzie, pianist Paul Harrison and vocalist Debra Salem have composed new musical settings to 13 of Soutar’s poems, influenced by jazz, pop and Scottish folk traditions. Violinist Patsy Reid completes the band. Sandy Thomson directs.
| 2012 dates | ||
| Perth Concert Hall | 12 May | 7.30pm |
| Byre Theatre St Andrews | 31 May | 7.30pm |
| Hospitalfield Jazz Room Abroath | 1 June | 7.30pm |
| Steeple Arts Centre Newburgh | 14 June | 7.30pm |
| 42 Royal Park Terrace Edinburgh | 21 June | 8pm |
| All tickets £10 (£8 concession available at some venues). | ||
In 2012 Ajay is looking for partners to work on a producion and Scottish tour of Cat and Mouse, her play about four Scottish suffragettes and the prison doctor who force-fed them.
The script has received three rehearsed readings at different stages of development. At the Soutar Theatre, Perth, in October 2010; at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, in March 2011; and at Perth Theatre Studio in
July 2011. All three readings were directed by Muriel Romanes of Stellar Quines Theatre Company. Feedback from these audiences (some 400 people) has been extremely positive.
Ajay gratefully acknowledges the support of Stellar Quines, the Gannochy Trust, Perth Theatre, the Royal Edinburgh Lyceum Theatre, and Perth and KInross Arts
Development Service.
www.catandmouse.org.uk
| Cat and Mouse, Introduction | Cat and Mouse, Fan and the warder |
