Two years after the tragic road accident that claimed the lives of Stuart Henderson and Marcus MacPherson, ‘Slow for Stuart’ and Shetland Arts have launched a major new arts project. Initial proposals have been agreed to develop a large scale piece of public performance that will act as both a celebration of the life and creativity of Stuart and address themes relevant to the ‘Slow for Stuart’ campaign.
Although the ideas are still at the conceptual stage, the proposal is to create a performance that takes the idea of promenade theatre to the extreme and transports the audience to various locations and scenes, culminating in a large scale theatrical event.
Drama Development Officer for Shetland Arts John Haswell said “The project ideas are still in their infancy but both Stuart’s family and Shetland Arts wanted to launch the idea to coincide with the second anniversary of Stuart’s death. We intend that the final project will feature themes that resonate with the aims of the ‘Slow for Stuart’ campaign but will be a dynamic artistic event in its own right. The first stage will be to create a small group of people to take the project forward. This group will feature those who can make an artistic contribution as well as those with a personal and social agenda. Our hope is that many of the people who worked with Stuart will contribute to the final performance.”
Supporting the project, Liz Henderson said “We, Stuart’s family and his fiancée Crystal, are delighted that Shetland Arts is planning to stage this play. This will further the aims of the ‘Slow for Stuart’ campaign. Last year we held a balloon launch on the first anniversary of Stuart’s death to highlight awareness of road safety. On this, the second anniversary, and with road accidents constantly in the news, we felt it was a good time for Shetland Arts to announce this project. Stuart was passionate about Shetland Youth Theatre and we are sure he would be happy that his friends and colleagues want to remember him in this way.
ENDS
Further information from John Haswell - Development Officer for Drama 01595 743843 01595 743739(direct) e-mail: [email protected]
