What's On
TOURING SCOTLAND Feb-March 2025
Public booking now open!
The Testament of Gideon Mack
by James Robertson, adapted for the stage by Matthew Zajac
We are delighted to announce that James Robertson’s best-selling novel has been adapted by Matthew Zajac and will tour Scotland in February and March 2025, thanks to the support of Creative Scotland’s Touring Fund.
Published in 2006 and longlisted for that year’s Booker Prize, The Testament of Gideon Mack instantly became a Scottish classic, a play about grief and the crisis of faith in our society, channelled through the story of one generous, energetic, perceptive, constrained, ashamed, confused and very Presbyterian individual, the Reverend Gideon Mack of Monimaskit. This is a story of late 20th century post-war Scotland, of the manse and the permissive age, a story of a Church of Scotland minister who doesn’t believe in God. Then he meets the Devil.
About us
Dogstar is a European touring theatre company based in the Scottish Highlands around Inverness, one of Europe’s fastest-growing small cities. We commission, produce, and tour new plays by writers from the north of Scotland and elsewhere.
From its early Highland tours, the company has extended its reach, now touring across the UK and internationally to a wide variety of venues. These include work presented at Copenhagen Stage Festival Denmark, Leeuwarden 2018 European Capital of Culture Netherlands, Umea 2014 European Capital of Culture Sweden, Konfrontacje Teatralne Lublin Poland, Ivan Franko National Theatre Kyiv Ukraine, Les Kurbas Theatre Lviv Ukraine, Malmo Stadsteater Sweden, Brits Off Broadway New York USA, Adelaide Fringe Festival Australia, Societaetstheater Dresden Germany, English Theatre Berlin Germany, Pavilion Theatre Dun Laoighaire Ireland, Clwyd Teatr Cymru Wales, Birmingham Rep England, and Mungo Park AC Denmark. Dogstar continues to tour village halls in the Scottish Highlands and Islands as well as to city centre theatres.
Much of our work springs directly from the Highlands’ defining characteristics: a stunningly beautiful and harsh natural landscape, a tumultuous and marginalised history, a shifting and changing population, and a vibrant oral and musical tradition. Our productions speak to our audiences using some of Scotland’s best actors, musicians, writers, directors and designers, collaborating with international artists and partners.
For us, theatre is a place for debate and celebration, for ideas and entertainment, for a few laughs, a few tears, a challenge to the mind and a memorable night out. At its heart, it’s about communication between the actor and the audience. It can’t exist without you.