A Hamnavoe Man

A Hamnavoe Man by Pam Beasant

presented by the St Magnus Players

‘A Hamnavoe Man’ was originally commissioned by and performed at the 2006 St Magnus Festival. It was a promenade performance through the streets of Stromness, where George Mackay Brown was born and where he lived for most of his life.

This version, adapted for voices, recorded by the St Magnus Players in 2021, marks the centenary of GMB’s birth.

Led by a ‘cat’, an ‘everyman’ figure and a fiddler, ‘A Hamnavoe Man’ is set in seven locations throughout Stromness. Starting at the Pierhead, it is a journey that ends on the steps of the writer’s last home in Mayburn Court, at the south end of the town. Apart from some necessary additional material to make it work as an integrated piece of theatre – the character of the cat being the main one – the piece is in GMB’s words, drawing on the familiar and the less familiar from his prolific output to give a partly biographical exploration of the man and his work, set against the backdrop of his home town.

GMB’s own community, including his friends, family and some of their children, produced this drama with passion, skill and great affection in 2006. The same community, including some original cast and crew members, have produced this audio version in 2021. Both versions were directed by Penny Aberdein, written and adapted by Pam Beasant, and Ken Dempster’s beautiful original score has been revived by Orkney Camerata, directed by Glenys Hughes. The accompanying film for the video version was made by Sarah Sutherland. This production is also supported by the George Mackay Brown Fellowship, an organisation set up in 2006 to celebrate the legacy of Orkney’s literature and support new writing.

It remains hard to conceive of a more meaningful way to hear GMB’s words, with their perennial freshness and beauty, than to place them among the piers, alleys and nousts where his poetic imagination was shaped and honed.

Watch the film and audio of the 2021 production here: