Concerned Others
Intimate Table-top Performance about Scotland’s Drug Death Crisis.
Available for Touring Autumn 2026.
Scotland has the highest rate of drug related death in Europe. One of the highest known rates in the world. In communities across the country, families, loved ones, friends, act as support for people with lived experience of substance dependency.
Concerned Others is an intimate tabletop performance that presents the stories of these critically underheard voices, accounts that paint us as a nation struggling to recognise a deadly culture of shame, ignorance and misunderstanding surrounding substance dependence and drug-related death.
Intricate miniature worlds unfold in front of the audience’s eyes, creating detailed, confronting microcosms of contemporary Scotland, placed halfway between dream and cold reality. The piece is a collision of first-hand accounts, hopes and reflexions on the weight carried by an entire community of care givers, healthcare professionals, policy makers and people living with addiction.
32mm figurines, shoe box style installations, turntables, micro-projection and immersive soundscapes combine to form a rich, multi-textural performance for small capacity audiences. This work is reflecting an imminent concern, with the highest recorded number of drug-related deaths so far occurring in 2021 with 1,330 deaths in one year, creating conversation and change around this issue is vital at this moment in time.
Concerned Others premiered at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023 as part of the Made in Scotland showcase.
Upcoming Presentations
PAST Presentations
Summerhall Made in Scotland Showcase @ Edinburgh Fringe August 2023
Macready Theatre, Rugby. 21st October 2024
The Showroom, Chichester. 24th October 2024
QUAD, Seoul Korea. 12 -15th June 2025
ACCF, Gwangju Korea. 26th -29th June 2025
Reviews
‘an unmissable new piece in miniature…unique, handbuilt and profoundly experimental’
The Guardian
⭑⭑⭑⭑
‘Their words argue powerfully against the shame-based “moral model” of addiction’
The Financial Times
⭑⭑⭑⭑
‘craft, heart and quiet fury’
The Stage
⭑⭑⭑⭑
‘breathtaking’
Darkchat 2023
⭑⭑⭑⭑
Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic
Credits
Deviser/Performer: Alex Bird
Composer: Jim Harbourne
AV Designer: Lewis Den Hertog
Lighting Designer and Technical Manager: Andrew Gannon
Production Manager: Fi Fraser (Originally Elle Taylor)
Producer: Kirsten McPake (Originally Arran Howie and Hannah Draper)
Partner Organisations
Arising from a year-long residency with Puppet Animation Scotland Tortoise in a Nutshell’s Co-Director, Alex Bird created a work in progress of this new production. This was presented at the scratch night Snapshots at Manipulate Festival, February 2023.
The work is now to be presented at the Made in Scotland showcase at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023. The creation process involved interviews with those with lived experience of substance dependence, their family and friends, as well as health and social care professionals and policy makers and consulting charities specialising in addiction support services.
With Deep Gratitude to the organisations and charities for their support and collaboration with this project:
Simon Community Scotland https://www.simonscotland.org/
Simon Community Scotland provides information, advice, care, accommodation & homes to people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. Offering a listening ear, hope and consistent informed support, they work to provide options to people who need them, allowing individuals to take the next step towards a positive future.
Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs https://www.sfad.org.uk
Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs is a national charity that supports anyone affected by someone else’s alcohol or drug use in Scotland. The give listening support and information to many people and help them with confidence, communication, general wellbeing, and link them into local support. They also help people to recognise and understand the importance of looking after themselves.
This Production has kindly been Supported by:
Creative Scotland: https://www.creativescotland.com
The Leche Trust: http://www.lechetrust.org/
Made In Scotland Showcase: https://www.madeinscotlandshowcase.com/
The Steel Charitable Trust: https://steelcharitabletrust.org.uk/
Stevenson Charitable Trust: https://www.turcanconnell.com/the-stevenston-charitable-trust
