Designed by Fiona Watt
Written by Justin Young
Directed by Philip Howard
In My Father’s Words, a hard-hitting production about language, identity and family, is travelling to New York.
In My Father’s Words premiered in Glasgow and Dundee in June 2014. It will be the only Scottish play in the ‘Brits off Broadway’ festival at the 59E59 Theatre in Midtown Manhattan.
In an old wooden house by the shore of Lake Ontario in Canada, Louis battles with his elderly father, Don, whose decline into dementia is gradually robbing him of the ability to speak.
Into their lives comes Flora, the caregiver that Louis employs to look after Don. Flora, who is of Scottish heritage, understands that the ‘nonsense’ that Don speaks is fragmented Gaelic, opening up an ocean of revelations and buried family history spanning the Atlantic.
In My Father’s Words is a beautiful play about identity – national and personal – and language, and the utter indivisibility between the two.
“sophisticated dementia drama… Philip Howard’s strongly acted production bridges the gulf between the domestic and the mythological” ★★★★ The Guardian
“Rich and thoughtful…powerful and fascinating” ★★★★ The Scotsman
“both intimate and epic in its reach for roots and reconciliation” ★★★★ The Herald
“a clever, engrossing, and affecting exploration of memory, language and identity”
The Sunday Herald