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Dateline: 15th September, 2005

Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre Company is to present the world premiere of I was a Beautiful Day by Iain F MacLeod as part of a Highlands & Islands tour.

After the first Gulf War, Dan needed a rest and some peace and quiet. But fourteen years on he's still living in self-imposed exile in a mainland hospital, away from the Isle of Lewis where he was born and raised.

After an age of isolation, Dan's peace and quiet is interrupted by two visitors - Lube, a fellow patient intent on escape; the other, Anne Williams, a visiting map-maker assigned the difficult task of updating the Ordnance Survey charts of Lewis.

Frustrated that she's been left with 'the bloody French Foreign Legion of cartography', Anne gradually becomes convinced that Dan's obsession - making artwork that maps the myths and memories of his native island in bizarre, intimate detail - is a treasure-trove for the public good.

Written by Lewis writer Iain F MacLeod, I was a Beautiful Day is a moving, often hilarious tale of resilience, survival and cartography. Displaying Iain's signature love of language and a style characterised by a wild streak of surrealism, it was commissioned by the Traverse to open the new An Lanntair arts centre in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, before embarking on a tour throughout Scotland.

In January 2002, An Lanntair was awarded funds from the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery, Highlands & Islands Special Transitional Programme (ERDF), Western Isles Enterprise and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) to develop a new arts centre on a prime site on the sea front in Stornoway. Designed by architects Nicoll Russell Studios, the development is of key strategic regional importance to the arts and culture in the North West Highlands and is the largest arts development in the Highlands & Islands since Eden Court opened in Inverness in the 1970s.

Featuring a highly flexible auditorium that will house theatre, cinema, concerts and ceilidhs, An Lanntair will officially open on Friday 7th October with the first performance of Iain F MacLeod's I was a Beautiful Day.

Tour Details

Fri 7 & Sat 8 Oct at 8pm
AN LANNTAIR ARTS CENTRE

Tue 11 Oct at 8pm
ST MARY'S HALL, BENBECULA

Thu 13 Oct at 8pm
COIGACH COMMUNITY HALL, ACHILTIBUIE

Sat 15 Oct at 7.30pm
VILLAGE HALL, CAIRNDOW

Wed 19 Oct at 8pm
MACROBERT, STIRLING

Thu 20 Oct at 7.30pm
TOWN HALL, INVERURIE

Fri 21 Oct at 7.30pm
STEWARTS HALL, HUNTLY

Sat 22 Oct at 7.30pm
VICTORIA HALL, ELLON

Mon 25 Oct at 8pm
SABHAL MOR OSTAIG

Wed 27 Oct at 8pm
THE PAVILLION, STRATHPEFFER

Fri 29 Oct at 7.30pm
EASDALE ISLAND HALL, EASDALE

Tue 1 Nov at 2pm
MALLAIG & MORAR COMMUNITY CENTRE

Thu 3 Nov at 7.30pm
VILLAGE HALL, BALLACHULISH

Thu 3 Nov at 7.30pm
JURA HALL, ISLE OF JURA

8 -19 Nov (times vary)
TRAVERSE THEATRE, EDINBURGH

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©Peter Lathan 2005