ThickSkin

**EDINBURGH**  
**STARTS AT THE TRAVERSE THEATRE**  

**'Did you notice I was talking, that I was living my life, that I was living a life here too?'**

Don your headphones and get ready to eavesdrop in this latest solo audio experience from ThickSkin (How Not to Drown). Celebrating the stories and people who are the heartbeat and spirit of Edinburgh, Eavesdropping asks who gets to define a city, who gets to be it’s guide and who’s story matters.

Eavesdropping takes audiences on an adventure through familiar and unfamiliar streets in Scotland’s capital, revealing new sides to and stories of the people who (may) live here. This location-based walking audio play by Hannah Lavery (The Drift) and Sarah MacGillivray, the latest in ThickSkin’s Walk This Play® series, will encourage audiences to look differently at the rich tapestry of people you may walk past every day, whether you notice them or not.

Through narration and original music blended with the sights and sounds around you, Eavesdropping takes you on a journey of imagination and discovery, where the audience is central to the action.

Produced in association with the Traverse Theatre and directed by Jonnie Riordan (Nigel Slater’s Toast), Eavesdropping continues our exploration of the many different facets of Edinburgh, presenting new and surprising perspectives on the city and its stories, and encourages audiences to get out and rediscover their city this summer.

**Creative Team**  
Writers - Hannah Lavery & Sarah MacGillivray
Director - Jonnie Riordan    
Composer & Sound Designer - Finn Anderson  
Producer - Li Kennedy   
Executive Producer - Laura Mallows   
Dramaturg - Eleanor White
App Developer - ECHOES  
  
**Cast**  
Saskia Ashdown, Reuben Joseph, Sally Reid, Julie Wilson Nimmo

*Welcome to EAVESDROPPING.  Part of the Walk This Play series by ThickSkin.*

*For the next hour or so you will walk and listen to a story unfold. You will meet characters around the city. While experiencing the play, be curious place these invisible people in the real world.* 

*If the characters tell you to stop or wait, find a safe position until they give you the next instruction.* 

*If you look at your phone you will see an orange line and a marker that shows your position. To stay on track just follow the line.  The orange line will pass through a number of zones.  When you walk into a new zone the next part of the story or an instruction will play.* 

*If you follow the directions you will end up back here at the Traverse Theatre*

*While you walk the regular rules of the road apply.  Be safe and be aware of your surroundings. The story will wait for you and you can travel at your own pace.* 

*You are standing outside the Traverse Theatre, Stand by the pillars near the front door.  The first part of your story will begin shortly.*

**The Guide:**

Do you, when asked by a small child or a first date or one of those questionnaires on Facebook-what superpower would you choose? Do you choose the superpower to read another’s mind -do you wish for super hearing-to be invisible, to be a fly on the wall, the fleck of dust on a lapel...Do you long for just a day, for just a moment to know, really know...Someone. 

To be able to sneak in, sneak up on the lives of others, eavesdrop on those you pass, to be able to escape for a moment into their worlds, into all those hidden worlds playing out- all around you? 

Do you? 

Will you?

**Stop!**

Good.

Okay...

Stay here 

just for a moment



There she is, standing vaping by the pillars 

The actress prepares... 

**The Actress Prepares by Hannah Lavery **

**Actress:** (says it in normal voice)
Did you notice I was talking, that I was living my life, that I was living a life here too? 

(says it like Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver)

Did you notice I was talking, that I was living my life, that I was living a life here...

(says it like a wee girl) 

Did you notice I was talking? 

(says it like an old witch)

Did you notice I was...

(says it like a posh man) 

Did you notice I was talking? 

(phone rings) 

Jack? What is it? 

What?! I can’t, you know I can’t. 

Jack!  I‘m on in twenty minutes- no! Jack! Don’t you... 

(small pause, voice changes, she is talking to her child)

Hello, sweetie 

yes, I miss you too 

I will see you soon, okay? 

You be good for -

Okay, bye, bye 

Jack? 

What the hell! I am just about to go on for the bloody critics 

Yes, I know! What the hell do you think I’m doing when you- 

Well, you will just have to cope, won’t you? 


Jack? Jack?


Bloody Hell. Very mature and twenty minutes before press night- bloody brilliant!

(small pause and then says in her normal voice) 

Did you notice I was talking, that I was...

Did you notice I was talking, that I was living my life, that I was living a life here too? 


***Ushering In by Sarah MacGillivray***

**GUIDE:** 
Here comes Andrew. Usher. 

**ANDREW.USHER:**
Walk walk straight ahead go. Away from the Traverse and turn left.

**GUIDE:**
Go with him, he will guide you round the front and to the left of the Usher Hall. 

**ANDREW.USHER:**
Oh my god oh my god oh my god I can’t believe I just did that oh Traverse you saucy minx
Pluck
I just winked at her, the actress that was there
Walk
I meant to say –
I was the usher Andrew, at the
Back blending in
All in black and you were a 
Hit, I meant to say that,
pluck
walk
I am actually a playwright right and you are inspiring me right now 
Like Siobhan Redmond did with Queen Lochiehead in ‘Perfect Days’ 
(was actually the funniest thing ever but also so moving) and I want to write for you write right 
plucking hell
Walk

Look up Andrew shake it off get your plumage out and 
walk 
get your steps in for the day you need to do you know you need to be buff to make it in this town
that’s not true actually 
we don’t like you flashy
Don’t go all Alan Cumming s in that Greek thing ‘The Bacchae’
He was incredible apparently
Come on walk
Multitask 
come on get your notepad out ready to catch any tail end of inspiration 
Turn left onto McRae’s place and look. Down Grindlay Street.
Pluck. Pluck pluck. Walk.
I keep finding feathers.
Honestly. Plucking hell. Left.

I see you there sleeping 
you tigress 
I approach 
With caution 
Desperate to caress your-

I don’t know where I am going with this metaphor she looks more like the
Icing on a cake that I want to bite (or peck)
walk walk towards her 

My gran said to me 
Andrew one day you will make it one day you’ll be famous 
and break down the barriers
But I have granny, I have 
nothing interesting to say pluck pluck pluck walk

Walk walk walk
Forward to the Lyceum to check your reflection
In the (very gleaming I must say) foyer windows
Fashions change, don’t they?
I look down at my chests no breasts just
Plumage. Grey. Is it too late?
Pluck.

**GUIDE:**
Wait here.


Look at my reflection 
I can’t see anything
I’m not even there
Please use other entrance
Cans 
paper 
general waste
nothing’s

You’re not a little bird.
You don’t just squawk.
You are an
Outrageously
Human
Being.

Yeah, but what happens when you grow claws though?
Well that, that could be interesting.

Mic drop.
Did I just do a piece of performance poetry and no one heard?

Didn’t even write it down…..that’s that gone.


**Guide:**
Turn right from Grindlay Street, under the arch into the tunnel, and keep walking, she will keep you company...The invisible worker

1. The Beginning / The Actress Prepares / Andrew Usher

**The Invisible Worker by Hannah Lavery** 

**Guide:**
Turn right from Grindlay Street, under the arch into the tunnel, and keep walking, she will keep you company...The invisible worker

**Lizzie:** 
If they’d given me my day off, I wouldne of-

(sighs) 

It’ll be okay. 

Guide: Let us stop here for a bit, let her get her smoke in. 

(lights a cigarette, inhales, exhales)

What would I say anyways? Like whit is there that can actually be done- is it no, too late now? 

(inhales, exhales)

Do you ken? I dinnae even think it’s actually part of my job, so…

(inhales, exhales)

Ah! Man, I’m gonna have to go back and you know whit? That’ll be it, that’ll be all the excuses she’s bin looking fur…

(in her client’s posh Edinburgh voice)

I’m not having a darkie in my house? 

(inhales, exhales)

Aye, this is whit she’s been waiting fur- an that daughter of hers 

(in the client’s daughter posh Edinburgh voice) 

She’s just from a different generation.

Like wis that no, also my Nan’s...But you cannae complain cause it’s part of the job an that - caring for others wi out judgement - Putting yoursel in their shoes - 

(in her posh lecturer’s voice) 

Sometimes it’s the pain talking

(inhales, exhales)

An that’s me ten minutes late now 

(her boss’s voice) 

We don’t pay you for your travel between clients- that Liz, that Lizzie, is your time. 

My time? Love it! So it’ll be my time then, when I need to eat, piss, pick up me PPE. My time, when I go back to make sure a decrepit greyhound didne eat a racist’s laxatives...Christ!...You know what? I am no gonna do anything...I’m pretty sure I got them all and if it keels over it’s no like they’ll do a bloody postmortem, I’m not even sure they would do one for Mrs Hitler there, not that I’m thinking of...

(laughs) 

Lizzie, if only they could hear you- what would they think? What would they think?

(in her posh lecturer’s voice) 

Being a carer is the greatest privilege- the greatest vocation, ladies- is to care. 

(inhales, exhales) 

**Lizzie:** 
...but I didne want to do today, I’d said that. I’d said I needed a day off - I’m exhausted. But then it's all, we really need you to cover and there's no one else, an I’m thinking about how much I need the money - which I do- and what? You cannae just leave them, so there I am, six in the morning on my knees on her kitchen floor, after knocking all her meds off the counter. I told them I was tired...I’ll just be a minute! I’m calling. Scrabbling on hauns on knees, putting each bloody pill- two red, one white- a yellow? Into Monday AM, an Monday PM, an oot of nowhere, he comes- all wagging tail an slobber- an I’m two red, one white and no bloody yellow! An was there even a yellow? Where is the fudging yellow? 

Christ! 

**Guide:**
 And she’s walking again. 

**Lizzie:**
And did you? 

(pause) 

I look at him. He looks at me. Me on my hauns and knees. Nose to nose. 

(whispers) 

Did you eat her pill? 

And she’s all... 

(in her client’s posh Edinburgh voice)

Did you forget about me? 

An... 

I don’t pay you to sit on your phone! 

an I’m thinking I’m pretty sure you don’t pay me at all. 

The dog? 

The dog just carries on looking at me, staring me out and you know what? I think he’s smirking. 

(pause) 
Can a greyhound smirk? 

(beat)

Can they? 

(pause, whispers) 

Did you take her pill? 

(inhales, exhales)

An the thing is, I’m no supposed to have to deal wi animals, that’s whit it says on the contract -you’ll no have to deal wi pets. 

(pause, whispers) 

Did you take her pill? 

He looks at me. I think he says 

(in the dog’s voice) 

Mibbe. 

I think he did. I think he was looking at me, saying 

(in the dog’s voice) 

Mibees I did. Mibees I took her pill, an mibees I’m gonna die.

An, an she’s shouting now 

(in her client’s posh Edinburgh voice)

I insist you come here, right away! I will call your manager, this is not what I expect from an employee. Come here, you stupid child- right now! 

I can almost feel her spittle but his eyes are bearing in 

(in the dog’s voice) 

J’accuse! 

(pause) 

I got ten minutes after I see to Mary- I‘ll go back, aye? 

(inhales, exhales)

 I mean it’s just a wee pill, one dose. You know? If there was even a yellow pill at all.

(pauses)

Mr Logan- is he no the one wi yellow pills? 

(pauses while she checks her phone) 

Christ, that’s me twenty minutes behind already.

 	

**The intern by Sarah MacGillivray**

**GUIDE:**
Go through the second tunnel and turn left and follow the intern along Bread Street.

**INTERN:**
(Café latte) don’t go right, go left, go independent they said
(Latte. Vanilla latte. 2 oatmilk lattes)
Important. Not vegan. Dairy allergies.
‘She won’t need to write it down she’s got a degree’
(1 large cappuccino)
Two degrees actually
(Cinnamon sprinkles) not that it matters
Straight along 

**GUIDE:**
Cross the two crossings  towards Blue Blazer and head up the hill. Stay on the left side of the road.

**INTERN:**
Bread Street, why is it called
Bread Street (coconut cappuccino)
I laughed why did I laugh why didn’t I just say
(Double espresso with sugar)
Why didn’t I just say 
(And a chocolate chip muffin)
Dave I want to work in events yes
(tasty buns)
It’s my passion
But that doesn’t mean that I am good for memory tests
That’s different skills surely
Why didn’t I just say
(A blueberry muffin if they have one)
I need to write it down
(Flat white)
My prowess is not determined on this
(oat milk flat white)
I just laughed and agreed
Will I get fired if I can’t deliver everyone’s coffees?
He just laughed 
Was he joking?
(Americano no milk)
Why didn’t I just say-
(Caramel latte?)
You can’t fire me I am not even getting paid and I am working like 16 hour days
Dave
(decaff double espresso)
What is the point in that….
That’s a crime against

Latte….?

**GUIDE:** Leave the intern before ‘Love Crumbs’ coffee shop, use the crossing to get to Burke and Hare’s lap dancing club on the other side of the road. 



**Burke & Hare building by Hannah Lavery**

**Guide:**

Stop at The Burke and Hare...

Three Reviews from Yelp

Edinburgh's famous Burke and Hare is located in the notorious 'Pubic Triangle', so called because of its three strip clubs. This is a favourite for stag parties, and rightly so. It certainly is the best of the three. The girls here are rather pretty (not a C-section in sight!) 


Burke and Hare was the site of my first strip bar experience and - in a non-creepy way - it was pretty good fun.  We went there for my friend's 20th birthday and, at first, we all felt like sleazes and got some awkward eye contact with the barely clad ladies.  We then just settled down with some drinks and had a fun pre-drink before heading elsewhere.  The women were an excellent addition to the evening and one of them gave the birthday boy a lap dance - a truly hilarious affair!! It was quite expensive both getting in and drinking, and there were some fairly weird people inside, but it was great fun nonetheless.

 Located in Edinburgh's "Pubic Triangle" (isn't that just lovely?) it is commonly surrounded by Lads on Tour. I am reliably informed by all my charming male friends (and boyfriend) that the Burke and Hare is the better of all the strip clubs on offer. I think that means as far as titty bars go, this has the best titties on offer.

If you’re facing Marilyn Monroe above the door – turn left. They will meet you there.

2. The Invisible Worker / The Intern / Burke & Hare

**Vigilante (Turning 40) by Sarah MacGillivray** 

**GUIDE:** Turn right down Kennedy Walk. 
We see 2 women, one is carrying a school project. 
Follow them, they may have some directions of their own.

**Helen:**	You disappear at 40. 
**Jaqs:** 	‘High Riggs’ is this little bit, isnt it? Did you know ‘riggs’ is an old scots word for ridge?
**Helen:** 	No I didn't but it doesn't surprise me. 
**Jaqs:** 		Dave’s parents are up this weekend, they weren’t keen on us moving, so trying to impress them with a little local history.
**Helen:**	Right, listen.
**Jaqs:**		Luckily the kids have been doing it at school. 
Helen: 	Oh have they? (beat) Right. Look left. There on the left. Graffitti. On the wall.
**Jaqs:** 		(reading off wall) ‘You don't really care.’/
**Helen:** 	(also off wall - its a little more faded) /‘ful.’ Look, I shouldn't really tell you this but-Laura wrote it, Jacob’s mum.
**Jaqs:** 		What? Why? 
**Helen:** 	I don’t know, something to do with her husband and the dishes. Fact is she did it in broad daylight, no one batted an eyelid. 
**Jaqs:** 		Weird.
**Helen:**	Keep walking down the street. (beat) When’s your birthday?
**Jaqs:** 		Oh mine is this Friday.
Helen: 	Oh god I see.
**Jaqs:** 		You know, Archie’s project is really detailed. Dare I say it, he might be a genius./
**Helen:**	/Yes, sure. Listen. Turn left on East Foutainbridge.
**Jaqs:** 		Not so much artistic genius though. Collage looks like the cat’s been sick
**Jaqs:** 		Although you could say that about some of Picasso’s work couldn’t you so...
Helen:	Look up there, above the wall, that was the twin’s mum, she got stepladders out, wanted to feel tall. 
**Jaqs:**		(reading wall) ‘Queez’
**Helen:**	Keep walking. Yeah think she got her ‘n’ the wrong way round
**Jaqs:**		Right – look - had you guys been smoking something… 
**Helen:** 	No, no no honestly it's just a common reaction.
**Jaqs:**		To what, turning 40?
**Helen:** 	It's a paradigm shift entirely. And sometimes you just wanna... There on the left. Under the window. 
**Jaqs:**		‘Magic’/
**Helen:**	Yeah….
**Jaqs:**		Did you know it says here that back in the day they thought beer was magic at one point sent from the gods? But it was actually just yeast at the bottom of the sticks that they used to stir the water with or something. Yeast. Water. Sugar.

**GUIDE:**
Keep walking straight to the end of the road to the traffic lights and stop. 

**Jaqs:** 		So you see (reading project) ‘magic is just a science we don’t understand yet’. Did my ten year old write that? And, Riego means ‘irrigation’ in spanish. Did you know that?
**Helen:** 	No/
**Jaqs:** 		This area is all about the water isn't it?/
**Helen:**	Listen./
**Jaqs:** 		And beer - with the McEwan’s Brewery, well it's the water that makes the beer local right/
**Helen:**	Yes/
**Jaqs:**		maybe I should ply Dave’s parents with that…
**Helen:**	/No/
**Jaqs:**		and there was a rubber/
**Helen:**	/factory yes/
**Jaqs:**		/now alot of it round here is/
**Helen:** 	Student accommodation.
**Jaqs:** 		Did you know right/
**Helen:**	/Probably yes/
**Jaqs:**		Fountainbridge was once called ‘Foul Bridge’’
**Helen:** 	Oh no. I didn't know that actually.
**Jaqs:**		There was a little burn called the ‘Foul Burn’ and a bridge went over it.
**Helen:** 	Right...
**Jaqs:** 		it ran all the way from the Loch in the meadows.
**Helen:**	There was a Loch in the meadows?
Listen Jaqs. Listen. I gotta go but there’s something you really need to know/
Helen:	You do do disappear when you’re 40! So you you just get ready for Friday!
(pause)
**Jaqs:** 		Right. My aunt already told me that again yesterday when on the phone.
**Helen:** 	Yes!
**Jaqs:**		Crazy lady.
**Helen:** 	No. Listen to her she’s a wise woman. Look, listen to me. I am trying to tell you trying to shake you like I wish someone had properly shaken me – you LITERALLY disappear! It's not just a silly little metaphor it's actually a thing. The only frame of reference I have for it is like Marty McFly in Back to the Future you know in the photos where he starts to disappear/
**Jaqs:** 		/You mean like when he’s erased from time?/
**Helen:** 	/Yes yes yes! That’s what it's like! First your hands go and then other bits. But it doesn't happen to men I repeat it doesn't happen to men. Marty was a time traveller, completely different story, you Jaqs, are a woman about to turn forty! (beat) But I mean, there is hope you can eventually learn to control on cue…..
(pause)
**Laura:** 	She’s right you know Jaqs.
**Jaqs:** 		(getting a fright) Oh god Laura, where did you just come from?
**Helen:**	She’s gone. (beat) Look, I just wanted to warn you, you know I am just being a friend. Especially with Dave’s parent’s up this weekend. 
**Jaqs:**	Right. I mean, thanks…. 
(pause)
So what have you been doing with this….? 
**Helen:** 	Me? Well….Cleaning/
**Jaqs:** 		/I’m not doing that.
**Helen:**	No, well no, no one said you had to its each to their own/
**Jaqs:**		/What have you been cleaning? 

**GUIDE:**
Cross over right at the bottom of the street and stay there for a moment. At the end of the old bank building, there is a door with an archway, right on the corner, look up at the arch.

**Helen:**  	Well...so far just cleaned the mosaic up there at the end of the old bank building. 
**Jaqs:** 		Oh yeah, never noticed that before. It's...very shiny.
**Helen:** 	Thank you.
**Jaqs:** 		‘Thrift is a blessing.’
**Helen:** 	Yes. (beat) What are you going to do with it, just out of interest?
**Jaqs:**		Invisibility? Hard to say. I’ll be honest with you I would rather fly but I don’t know…. maybe.. rob a bank?
Helen: 	‘Thrift is a blessing. If men steal it not.’ It’s a Shakespeare quote.
**Jaqs:**		/You know, I’m quite looking forward to this, thank you Helen, for the warning. (beat) Here. Anyone thought about establishing a new world order?
**Helen:**	Yes, yes they have actually. I can fill you in on Monday, I gotta go get Ben from his swimming.
**Jaqs:** 		Right. See you soon…….vigilante.
 

**Shopping List by Hannah Lavery**  

**Guide:** 
Cross straight over Lothian road and over to Fountainbridge. Continue along the right hand of the street.. She's only got a half hour for lunch...

**Louise:** 
So, minus the leccy card that’s...
Ten pounds and erm..Fifteen pence. 
So,
Fish fingers
10
One pound. 
2, 4, 6, 8, 10 
5 Meals. 
Bread-
White. 
One pound twenty. 
Ten slices. 
5 fish finger sandwiches. 
So that’s their lunches
two pounds twenty
Seven pounds eighty left.  
Cereal -own brand
Two pounds 
Milk 
Four pints 
One pound and nine pence 
Potatoes 
One pound and eighteen pence 
Beans - own brand 
Thirty pence 
Sausages 
Eight for two pounds.
Leaves..Erm…
Four pounds and forty one pence 
Okay, shampoo, washing up liquid and…

**Guide:**
Cross the two crossings, stay on the right. 

**In Memoriam, Fat Sams by Hannah Lavery**  

**Guide:** 
Shona is just in front of you, stay with her for a bit- will ye?...Continue walking along Fountainbridge...

**Shona:**
Why would they not tell me they closed at five? 

What am I supposed to do now?

I mean you’d think it would stay open all hours. 

Who’d thought they’d keep business hours- it's no right. 

When Granda died we sat wi him all night in the house. Nan’s front room, all the chairs out. Granda, laid out in his best suit. Uncle Marty singing, you playing along wi your harmonica. Out of tune - most likely. But we were all there. All night. Mum got us all in a production line making sandwiches. Nan had made Granda’s favourite Lemon Meringue. 

and it sat there waiting...I am not sure if anyone ate it. I fell asleep in Nan’s bed, all of us kids were in there, she slept in Granda’s old chair, watching over us and you and your brothers sat with him- all night, welcoming Father John in the morning. And before we all carried you down the stair, we stood in there, packed in like sardines-Granda’s friends out in the hall, neighbours standing out in the landing, while he gave the final blessing...You know, I think we gave Father John the pie in the end.    

**Guide:** Let’s stop with her, she needs a moment. 

**Shona:** I think I would’ve stayed with you.

I think I wanted to, I mean that’s why I am here...isn’t it?


This is where it was- no? Fat Sams. Aye, it was definitely here. Nothing now. All gone now, Dad. 

You remember that night? Not even my birthday but you went an telt aw the waiters I was turning 11 -remember? I was thirteen. It was all we could do, to not laugh when they came in all singing and the - Ach! Do you remember the musicians on the roof?  Like plastic moving models - wee robot musicians- it was something else... 

Why did we no just go on my birthday? Why didn’t we- eh? 

I should call Mhairi, she’ll no be coming, she says, but you never know...Maybe, as it comes closer... 

She’ll want to see you, I think.

I think it would’ve done me good to sit wi you for a night. To keep you company or…

We’ve been needing a chat. 

Don’t you think?

Dad? 

Look, I get why you didne tell Mhairi and Mum 

and they are proper raging wi you by the way- but me? 

Why would you no tell me?

I was never going to judge you. And I could’ve helped, how many times did I offer it? Was it really your pride? 

I remember once mum said you didn’t always have the words, not for the big things and not for this, obviously...

Dad? I never needed you to be the big man. I didne…

And do you think I didne know? I knew. I knew why we told the waiters I was eleven and not thirteen, that the kids’ menu was cheaper, that we came two weeks after my birthday because you didne have the money, afore then - did you think I didne know we struggled? That, aye, we’d done well for oursels but we were no our neighbours, we had the house but we didne have the money to keep it the way they did, we had the car but we had it for years after everyone else had got their new ones, and our holidays were always in the caravan 

and we were the happiest on the street, could you not see that?  We never needed you to be the big man, none of us did. Aye, well, Mhari and Mum were partial, I get that but seeing them now -aw the bills you left Dad- aw that money gone- and for aw that stuff no one needed

What we needed 


What we always needed was 


Why did you no, ask for help? Whit did you think would happen? 


Did you think we’d say no? 


That we’d love you less?

I cannae believe they’re not open. You shouldne be alone. I wanted to sit wi you like you sat wi Granda. You should’ve got that, you should’ve at least got that.  

I couldne get in Dad, naebody bloody telt me it shut at five. I would've stayed wi you- all night. Ach! 

I wish you could’ve known that.  


**The Student by Hannah Lavery**

**Guide:** 
Carly. She is crossing  at the lights to the other side of the street, follow her towards school, turn right. 

**Carly:**
I hate it. I hate this. I hate this bloody weather- this bloody city. It was supposed to be the time of my life. I can’t even...I want to go home.  I am not even sure what it is I’m supposed to be doing...I told her, I said I wanted to have a year off, but oh no, I needed to start straight away, she said. No more messing about. But Mum, look at me now. Failing everything because I hate it. Philosophy, I mean what is it even for- what kind of choice was that- you idiot! Aunty was right, no future in it. Should've done Business Studies- at least then I'd be in with a chance. This? Pointless. And I don’t even know how to talk to these people- with all the- I went skiing-on-my-holidays and the you're-so-lucky-you're-like soooo-exotic...This place! This is not for me, this is not for me at all. Higher learning? Pointless! I am not cut out for this- that’s what they all think and they’re right. Show them what you made of, you said, but really what is the point of studying about thinking when you don’t have any time to think for yourself, when there's no room for your own thoughts. I could spend all day just sitting, looking out the window. I would but it’s not allowed- not here. That’s not proper thinking. That’s not proper living. I hate this bloody city. I hate it. Why can’t you just let me fail - just for a bit- why are you in such a rush for me to...I just want to go. This is not what you sold me. I miss my room. I miss sitting at my own window. I miss my own view...They don't want me here. They really don't. Show them what you’re made of... Mum? No one here is interested in what I can show them,  in what I’m made of- they’re not interested in that at all.

**Tinder by Sarah MacGillivray**

**GUIDE:**
Turn left under the building. See the arrow that says ‘Kennedy’s’. Go there, to the back of the canal. 

There she is. By the water. 
Lola. Burning up already. 
She has a date, and is counting the/

**LOLA:**
/Bronze swans. 

‘To Edinburgh and Beyond’ an art installation by Shona Kinloch. 
I’m getting very into sculpture this past year. I make my own pots now and smash them in the garden very
Beautiful I think eventually I might sell them but that’s down the road for now... 
Where’s the eleventh swan gone?
(probably in a field or something), they said at the hotel you need to-
Rub the beak of the eleventh swan on the right the one that looks like its about to take/

**GUIDE:** 
She’s off/
Left! Veer left/
Go up the ramp towards Canal Point and keep going.
Have a feeling this wee spark may need some supporting.

**LOLA:**
I’m abit confused/

**GUIDE:** 
While Lola checks her GPS system, I’ll take this opportunity to give you some more information.
The Union Canal was constructed in 1882 and transported important minerals between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Take in the view.
And you can see there over to the right is Edinburgh's Kennedy Space Centre….. And the ground is 
beginning to tremble...
We’re heading down the steps, or there’s a slope, and turning left.
Here she goes, she might just be about ready to explode in
in

TEN.

**LOLA:**
Fingertips on skin
Mine on his, is all I can think about and
Every part of me is standing to attention 
(Hello sailor how you been)
at the thought of 
his- 

**GUIDE and LOLA:**
NINE

**LOLA:** 
I shout out German words sometimes I don't know why/
Oh my god, oh my god, do you see that Lola do you see? 
‘Perfection is a matter of time’ 
It’s a sign right, has to be/

**GUIDE:**
Lola has seen the sign on the wall above the dentist/

**LOLA:** 
Turn left Lola, turn left.
That's it -new life....teeth.. for
We have waited long enough
Stagnated in the deep deep dark waters of many a failed relationship and now, well now, I just feel I may have found someone who can move me actually
You know come crashing through me
Put me
Out of my misery

**GUIDE:**
Alongside her sculptor work, Lola has taken up poetry/
And is prone to going off on one/

**LOLA:**
I can’t do it./

**GUIDE:**
Yes you can, come on Lola, this way. Jet propulsion/
She does looks quite pale to be fair/

**LOLA:**
I feel sick 
I don't think I can handle the pressure 
I should have

**GUIDE:**
8

**LOLA:**
Something before I left. I just couldn't just kept thinking about him touching my 
Breasts. 
I’m just
yearning……..to be
Touched I just 
haven't been 
touched in quite a long time I’m just
Yearning for his 
breath on my
neck that would be

**GUIDE:**
7

**LOLA:** 
Heaven.
(I really should have eaten something)
I see a wiggly silver thing on the left, anyone else seeing this/
God I love sculpture
You know it's interesting if I
tilt my head I can see mismatched breasts very much like my own and maybe some sort of beautiful flowing phallic structure just
glistening there proudly in the sun (definitely a penis)
I really want/

**GUIDE:**
SIX
Come on Lola get your head out the gutter.
(formal) Turn left at the statue of ‘The Flowing Wave’ by David Corpney and follow the street round/

**LOLA:**
It’s not just six though is it 
Why did I just say that in a New Zealand accent? Maybe it's a premonition of our travels together-
Look, this might be presumptuous because we haven't actually met in person yet 
but I think dare I say it I think that maybe no one’s listening anyway who cares I think maybe we are 
life buoy meets girl 

**GUIDE:**
Lola likes reading walls.

**LOLA:**
I think we might be
Soul mates
And I can't say that out loud because it sounds quite antiquated and crazy but I feel like our souls did meet across the 
ether 
like I felt him catch the breeze and
Blow in the window I remember genuine
Affection we’d watch mornings rise together 
via text message

**GUIDE:**
FIVE
(gently) keep moving

**LOLA:**
Oh I am….
He has sent me so many 
unsolicited photos of his 
childhood. 
I got so many pics of his 
holidays with his grandparents in Southend on Sea
intimate details 
of his life and memories, 
It’s just been 
Really lovely
Don’t want it to end
‘Is he the one that I’ve been waiting’

**GUIDE:**
FOUR. 

**LOLA:**
Oh my god oh my god I can't breathe I think the enormity of the situation the electricity from that power station just hit me I think and - 
What if he doesn't like me? What if I don't like him? He's the only one I have let in in such a long period of time. My heart is like glass. It might shatter again into a million pieces and what if I can't find the special glue from the craft shop to fix it? What if Hobbycraft don't stock it? What if I am lost again, what then…. In the aisles forever and internet shopping/
Breathe. Lola. Breathe. The sales people are very helpful there and you know it. 
Oh my god the crossing is coming.
Does my breast look ok?

**GUIDE:**
She meant her hair.

**LOLA:**
My hair 
look ok?

**GUIDE:** We’re going to cross to the island with the emblem on the ground. and stop.  
 

**LOLA:**
I want to be natural you know not try too hard 
natural accidentally 
Sexy, 
Accidentally (although the waxing was planned and expensive)
This is me Lola wild and 

**GUIDE:**
THREE. 

**LOLA:**
But it's not though is it? I am actually really uptight and anxious most of the time and he needs to know that.
Come on Lola, what have we learned?
That I have a tendency to put men on pedestals, due to low self worth that stems from childhood attachment issues I have worked through with a really excellent therapist
That I can just be honest, be myself.
That I don’t believe in fairy tale endings and if we do like each other we can be separate individuals in a mature relationship and
I can walk away quickly if he’s an arsehole and I have to work 60 hours a week to pay his rent that
Forgiveness is key let it go.

**GUIDE:**
She’s wiser than we thought.

**LOLA:**
And my pottery work is groundbreaking and is going to make me a lot of money. I don't need a pension plan that’s me/
sorted/
I think I should just go home/ 

**GUIDE:**
No. Come on. Booster engine. Live a little, have some fun. Life’s to be experienced after all, and well…. you never know….

**LOLA:**
Eyes.
Oh my god
Eyes.
He’s there in the circle like he was in my sexual fantas/
/eyes 
we said that we’d meet there sort of a private joke I can't even remember how it started but it was absolutely hilarious and we both dressed up as firefighters and he got his/

Eyes
Out (beat) side the station/
We said that when we meet we might not even speak 
Done enough of that already (sometimes good things happen)
We said that when we meet we might not even speak

Just

Slowly 
lean 

in 

**GUIDE:**
TWO…...….ONE

**LOLA:** (out loud) ‘shit, oh my god a bird just…. That’s disgusting’

**TINDER DATE:** ‘Supposed to be lucky, isn't it?’

**GUIDE:** Lift off.
Hope she gets a smooth re-entry. 
Walk away quickly. The writing’s on the wall. 
Up there, see that? Straight ahead.
Go there, a club called ‘Atik’

**Mambo Years by Hannah Lavery**

**Guide:** 
Keep walking along the right side of the road.  Yaz and Andy are walking back the years.. 

**Yaz:** 
I think that used to be the Mambo? Honestly that was the best place- 

**Andy:**
-I don’t remember you going to the Mambo. I thought it was the Venue all the way... 

**Yaz:**
Aye, sure, but you couldne beat a dance at the Mambo- I went all the time. But that was when you were with Louise. 

**Andy:**
Ah! The lovely Louise 

**Yaz:**
Stop it!

**Andy:**
The Cameo's round here - do you remember- 

**Yaz:**
-that midnight showing - what wis it?

**Andy:**
Naked Lunch 

**Yaz:**
We were so stoned. 

**Andy:**
So stoned.

**Yaz:**
I fell asleep 

**Andy:**
Oh aye, so you did. 

**Yaz:**
Did we walk all the way back to Porty after?

**Andy:**
Probably. 

**Yaz:**
You remember that night we watched the sunrise up Arthur’s Seat?

**Andy:**
The night I declared my undying love?

**Yaz:** 
Yaz, I’m really into you 

**Andy:** 
Will you get off wi me and that?

**Yaz:** 
Irresistible

**Andy:** 
It worked, though.  

**Yaz:** 
To my eternal shame. And a week later you were going wi the Lovely Louise - 

**Andy:**
Nah, it was not the next week. Do you remember? There was that night we slept in your mum’s front garden?

**Yaz:**
Don’t that was...Our poor mothers 

**Andy:**
Speak for yourself - my mum loved me.

**Yaz:**
My mother loved me!

**Andy:**
Aye, so she did. 

**Yaz:**
She did! It was you she didn’t like. 

**Andy:** 
Aye, fair enough. It was not exactly a wholesome thing to wake up to- 

**Yaz:** 
She almost died, we were- 

**Andy:** 
-so in love

**Yaz:** laughing
So we were.  


**Guide:** 
Turn right onto Home Street. Follow them as they cross the two traffic lights  towards Brougham Street, keeping the clock on your left.

**Yaz:**
Do you think he knows? 

**Andy:**
Yaz, they know-

**Yaz:**
Sorry, do you think they know we love them?

**Andy:**
Of course, they do.

**Yaz:**
I haven't been great 

**Andy:**
You did your best.

**Yaz:**
They shoulnde have to deal with my-

**Andy:**
-Aye, well, we’re not perfect. 

**Yaz:**
See down there?

**Andy:**
What is that - a bank?

**Yaz:**
Goldbergs...

**Guide:** 
Cross the third set of traffic lights to the left of  the blue shop, to be on the left hand side of Brougham Street.

**Yaz:**
...It was this department store. I used to come on a Saturday morning with my Nani and then we would go across to the Bingo to meet Papa. Every Saturday, milky coffee, millionaire shortbread, shopping and bingo.

(laughs remembering)

I got caught going up the down stairs 

**Andy:**
The down stairs?

**Yaz:**
You know the down stairs. 

**Andy:** (laughing)
The down stairs?

**Yaz:**
The escalators- shut it, smart arse, I’m sharing...Anyways, I ran up the down stairs and the security guard chased me...Nani was so mortified. 

I got a lifetime ban

**Andy:**
How old were you? 

**Yaz:** 
I don’t know, about 8

**Andy:**
Lifetime ban- aye, well the joke’s on them…I liked your Nan. 

**Yaz:** 
She liked you too...She would have loved Eddie.

**Andy:** 
She would’ve.

**Guide:** 
Turn right and walk up Brougham Street with them. 

**Yaz:**
I think our teenage selves would approve-

**Andy:**
-of us?

**Yaz:**
God no, we are huge disappointments. Massive sell outs. No, I mean they would approve of Eddie, they would have liked them. 

**Andy:**
Aye, I think you’re right. They’re cool, proper revolutionary- 


**Yaz:**
Too cool for us

Our wee revolutionary

Och, isn't it just about being yourself, does it have to be more than that?

**Andy:**
No...But being yourself when...Well, that's something.

**Yaz:**
I just get so frightened -

**Andy:**
Yaz? Eddie needs us to have their back- that’s all.

**Yaz:** 
Aye, I worry that- 

**Andy:**
Tolerance-

**Yaz:**
-Tolerance?!

**Andy:**
What?

**Yaz:**
I don’t want them to be tolerated.   

**Andy:**
You don’t?

**Yaz:**
No, it’s not enough. Tolerance? It’s shit, it’s not an ambition or something to congratulate yourself on, it’s a basic... I want so much more for Eddie. Tolerance? It’s a Trojan horse. I should bloody know. 

**Andy:**
Aye, it’s not enough- is it? But you know? Wait for them to tell you what they need- will ye?

**Yaz:**
Have their back?

**Andy:** 
When they need it- aye. 

Should we get them a skateboard? 

**Yaz:**
What?

**Andy:**
For their birthday? 

**Yaz:** 
They have one- no?

**Andy:** 
Aye, but it's crap. There used to be a skateshop up on the corner. 


**Yaz:**
Quarterback?

**Andy:**
Are you sure that’s what it was called?

**Yaz:**
I think so...I used to go all the time. 

**Andy:**
You never skated. 

**Yaz:**
No, but I liked the Skaters. 

**Andy:**
So, you did. You know, don’t let all this middle age fool you, underneath I’m still that young lad.

**Yaz:**
In baggy shorts 

**Andy:**
and All Stars 

**Yaz:**
Oh, I see you 

**Andy:**
You know I‘ve got my brother’s ID 

**Yaz:**
You do, do you?

**Andy:**
Fancy a pint- a Long Vodka?

**Yaz:**
Long vodkas! I forgot about those- I’m not even sure I remember what they taste like-does that mean you’re having a Newcy Brown?

**Andy:**
You know? I never liked them. 

**Yaz:** 
What- really?

**Andy:** 
So, a quick pint?

**Yaz:**
Do we have the time?

**Andy:**
How long do we have?

**Yaz:**
An hour?

**Andy:**
Plenty of time then - a pint and then a taxi back to the suburbs?

**Yaz:**
Throw in a bag of crisps and I’m yours. 

**Andy:**
Cheese and Onion 

**Yaz:**
Oh! How you know me. 

**Andy:**
How indeed.  
 
**There once was a man’ by Sarah MacGillivray**

**GUIDE:** 
Keep going down the road, head towards the meadows, the green space straight ahead.
There’s a pregnant woman, talking to herself. 
Maybe occasionally… look up..

**WOMAN:**	
There was a man once there was a man-
Who mapped the entire outer reaches of the universe (well as far as you can)
From his work in Edinburgh
There was a man once there was a man
Who worked at the Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill
There was a man once there was a man-
Who sometimes took me out in the garden on a clear night looking for stars
There was a man once there was a man who wasn’t very good at spotting them from home, but he always saw planet Mars, (its easy, its reddish brown)
There was a man once there was a man
Who mapped the entire outer reaches of the universe from his work in Edinburgh 
There was a man once there was a man
He wasn’t famous... 
but he was your Grandpa...
How lucky is that.

**Litter Picker by Sarah MacGillivray**

**GUIDE:** 
We leave the woman. Turn left onto the meadows. And meet Ann/

**ANN:** 
Who said that, who said my name?! I heard you./

**GUIDE:** She is standing in the middle of the park carrying a litter picker/

**ANN:**
Something tells me someone’s listening, spider senses be a tingling,
Someone sweaty’s been on quite a journey- and its not over just yet-
But I could be wrong-
My senses are somewhat diminished...
But are there…….… I am just going to say it… I’m getting
People 
with headphones on? That could be anyone.
They will be listening to music or podcasts, surely
Not…. me. 
The clock face of grandmaster time kicks her wheel, I haven’t got long, I can feel the call
Just take a risk Ann for god’s sake, speak. Ok here goes-
 
(as if giving a sermon)
Right, we, each of us, ‘the seven sisters’-
not real sisters you understand just seven friends charged with a similar mission in this lifetime-
were called to protect the sacred spaces 
roughly coinciding with the geographical locations
of the 7 hills of Edinburgh. 
If you look around you might just see, 
No probably not at your height maybe just trees but Arthur’s Seat 
Is over to the west
Anyway I digress….

(back to sermon) We were charged with protecting these naturalifical spots (there’s millions of us naturalificator spontificators throughout the lands some call them ‘hags’, look out for them they’ll be carrying a wand disguised as a litter picker)/
/You’re losing them Ann too much jargon
Sorry/

You see-
What the boot-camping ribbon waving ball bbq-ing toes people don’t understand is-
Underneath the meadows….

is a portal.
 
(potent pause)

**GUIDE:**
Stop. Look at the green/

Connects all of nature, has secrets to impart. And I am sort of its gatekeeper. And I’d like to retire now.
There now, I’ve lost you haven’t I. That’s done it, don’t listen to... /
You know, be much easier if I could just roll up the carpet and show you but the council won’t let me do that, I tried last Christmas put in a petition but apparently its
‘too disruptive’ to the traffic in the most gridlocked city in the UK per capita would you believe it-
But between you and me….I think they think it’ll blow your mind,
Which it might, but I also believe it might
Cure it.
 
**ANN:**
Raise your hands if you have any questions at this point.
I’m sorry I can’t actually see you, my eyesight is not what it used to be and I
Haven’t got my specs so I’ll just have to 
Trust. Look 
(more ‘normal’)
I am ancient and I just, I’ve had enough, I just want to join my friends.
They went a long time ago but I never had a next generation someone to pass it on to- the knowledge of the 
secret portal.
I guess I was busy….
Saving the world..
Now. I will be released from my position here if I can just get someone to
Plug in. Take it on. Hear. 
 
So if you could just
Do me a favour and 
hold a tree, see if you’re the chosen one,
if nothing happens be on your way. I won’t bother you again…(today..)
You can do it discreetly, I mean just
casual lean I know you can be seen still can’t you? You look good. 
Pop a finger on bark
That’ll connect you, 
that’s enough.
Just erm. Leave you there a minute. 
 
**ANN and TREES:** 
Let me tell you a secret-
You are supposed to be here, you are someone’s wish 
(even if it doesn’t feel like it)
And
You are way more powerful than you’ve ever been told-
you have the power
To transform the world. 
Your voice matters 
You are important 
And you’re never alone.

(poetic) Take me with you when you go to places new and far away, take me with you and you’ll know that right beside you is where I’ll stay. I’m in each tree, each guiding star, in each breeze, each trickle far, I’m in all rocks, all soil and sand, always with you, for I’m your 
Land. 


**ANN:**
Did anyone hear anything? Because if you did you now have to stay in this spot forever 
I would come prepared for the weather. Or….. 
the other thing you could do is galvanise local community groups with a renewed fervour but...if you do go down that route….
I wouldn’t mention the portal or the talking trees or me.
It doesn’t go down well, can be quite contentious, 
But. Do guard it with your life.
 
There now am I dismissed? Been usurped? (disappointed) I had a good feeling about today.. But. Powers diminish.

**GUIDE:** Ann catches sight of a local bird swooping in to land beside her/

**ANN:** /Thank you for clarifying, I wasn’t sure for a moment, thought might be a mini parachutist/

**GUIDE:** /More start to follow…. and Ann starts to count them.../

**ANN:** 2, 3, 4, ….5, 6……. And I’d make seven.

**GUIDE:** The birds create a perfect circle around her./

**ANN:** /Yes I know I’m getting that and I see where you’re going with this but…..they’re very common birds in the local area and I admit I do have a biscuit squished into my pocket. So this isn’t a clear sign that it is in fact my time to-

Oh no I tell a lie. That there is Patricia.

**GUIDE:** Ann watches 5th bird waddle off.

**ANN:** (affectionately) she was....always doing that…..there’s probably a man involved no doubt.
 
Usurped. (Sort of.) Finally. Oh, hang on before I go, just….thank you little gods with the headphones on. 

**GUIDE:** Leave Ann... at the 
portal. Take the left on the meadows to Chalmers Street, behind the black community notice board. You see Unite Students on the left and shiny new flats with balconies on the right. Head straight up the road, stay on the left.
 
**‘For Salvatore’ by Sarah MacGillivray** 

**GUIDE:**  Tony has just chained up his bike.

**TONY:**  Hard to know what to believe anymore, isn't it?

**GUIDE:**  He’s talking to a seagull. Walk with him straight up the street. Walk Slowly. 
 
**TONY:**   You know, you guys have got a bad reputation -stealing people’s sandwiches and that, there’s videos gone viral, and I have seen first hand the decimation that ensues when you get your beaks on a fish supper. 

Look you’re going to get run over, careful, careful. On the pavement. Or -fly mate fly, fly, fly. Goodbye. Ahhhhh you’re coming with me aren't you, come on then, I can't leave you, you look lost it’ll play on mind, can't relax until I know you’re safe. Come on, straight up here, top of Chalmers Street. I’ve got an appointment right. So.

Ah Tony what you doing? I don’t know, must be losing it eh, losing my mind.

You ever been to mass like? Snuck in the back? Sometimes you guys do that, don't you? I enjoy it, controversial but I do, I do, it’s the meditative element I think Brings me comfort normally but lately I haven’t been able to bring myself to cross the threshold just having conflicting feelings… since I….haha. What am I...…?! Haha. Ah you nearly got me there getting all my secrets out, think that must be like the perk of being a priest, or a mind reader….get to be nosey.
 
Introductory rites?.
I’m Tony. 3rd generation Italian. Won’t surprise you, my good looks and charm. Watch it mate. Stereotype. But I will take the compliment. Stop flirting with the bird, Tony, stop flirting with the bird.
 Anyway my great granddad was born in Northern Italy near the Dolomites actually and he walked right he walked all the way from Italy to Scotland. Like a pilgrimage. Wasn’t though it was jobs, 
recession. Walked through London, walked through the whole of England. Through the borders, got to Edinburgh, saw the castle, thought boom that’s me, I’m home. 

Anyway… my great grandad was a king. Well he wasn’t a king king, if he was a king king he wouldn’t have been walking would he, he’d have had a horse or something or probably wouldn’t even have left, but he was a king amongst men. He started up youth football teams and that. He won an award from the government for services to the community. Became a ‘cavaliere’. That’s what they call it. Got the certificate up on the wall like, framed.
 
Where are we? Gospel. This whole area is full of NHS history, you got the blood donation, the eye pavilion, all built on the old premises roughly like I think of the Simpson’s maternity hospital where half of Edinburgh was born. 
 
Homily. I think that’s what it's called. Put it in your own words….. Reflect. I had a teacher right who would say to me if you like a song don’t just sing it, roar it. The NHS is my song and normally I would roar about them right now like actually shout something out loud but I don’t want to draw too much attention to myself at this precise moment in time.
But -the sentiment is correct. Roar it. They won't tell you this but that’s the most noble profession in the world. Caring for other folk. They’ll dismiss it, you ever try to tell a nurse, a doctor, a care worker that and they’ll dismiss it- ‘that’s my job’ but you know this as well as I do there must be a special power at work within their bones. Bow down, kiss their feet, it’s the least we can do.
 
Look, like this. I saw you flutter there for a moment -you understand me or was it just my sudden movement?
 
Jeesus. Jeesus I’m getting carried away with myself. 
 
Right so. That’s my homily
 
My favourite bit? I give you peace, my peace I give you. 

There it is. That’s it. Nearly my stop. Chalmers Street sexual health. 
Discreet. Can we stop here a second?
Quick confessional. I met this guy right I met this guy and I think I might like him and I just mate I just. There’s nothing wrong with…. I just never thought I dunno that I would have to deal with this part of myself and I’m just abit in, on, in, on, in uncharted waters you know, mate? And we said, we said we said that well we would just get checked out before you know before taking it any further to explore. That’s sensible right. Sensible. Right. Hence we’re going here. Not together like not for a date, jeez that be some third date. Third date. Longest relationship I’ve ever had. But. Yeah. Never done this before. Nervous. Not scared. Nervous. So would you mind eh...waiting? I think it’d be a comfort to just…. know someone’s there? 

And afterwards maybe I could shout you a wee - poke of chips? What am I saying? (he laughs) Go in peace mate. Go. 
Explore.

** GUIDE:** 
We leave Tony. 
Keep going to the top of Chalmers Street.

**Star Gazing by Hannah Lavery** 

**Guide:** 
Cross at traffic lights and head down towards the art school, turn left. she is looking at the stars...

**Mina:**
Was that Salman Rushdie? 

Christ! It must be, I mean he’s no like anyone else - is he? 

Did he see me?

Ach! Do people like that- do they really see anyone?

Does he only ever see reflections of himself, like did he only see me seeing him? 

And how does that feel? 

Exhausting, I imagine. 

**Guide:** 
Turn right after the old fire station

**Mina:** 

“To see ourselves as others see us!

What would that really do to you, though? 

To only see yourself being seen-being interpreted by...

Maybe...

Maybe, Rushdie looked at me and saw a fellow writer - I mean why not? 

It’s my story. 

He looked at me and saw another writer and not...

Did he feel superior? 

No, because no one knows me. 

He felt this recognition which was followed by a sort of envy. 

This great international superstar writer. 

Does he just wish he could be anonymous? 

I mean, aye, of course but let's put that aside for a moment and consider -does he, this widely hugely epically read man, wish that he was unread, like me?

And that despite this- failure to succeed-does he wish he was me? 

Writing not because any folk are waiting for my words - they’re not- but because I write - it’s just what I do. 
 
...and he sees that in me, he looked my way and for that wee moment he saw 

freedom! 

**Guide:** 
Cross at the traffic lights, continue walking straight with her down Lady Lawson Street

**Mina:** 
Like why does every creative act need an audience- approval? 

No, it's not that simple 

It’s this -why does everything we do need to be received? 

Like what would it be if I wrote and said this will never be read by anyone not while I’m alive or ever...Or ever- If I burnt everything I wrote the moment after I wrote it.

Does that make my work less valid - or valuable? 

I’m I less of a writer if I don’t offer up my words? 

Do we always have to be read?

(whispers)

to be judged.

What freedom is there in being unread, unknown, unseen, are we better if we refuse an audience? 

If we hide our work, our thoughts, ourselves, so all that matters is the making, the thinking- the being.  

If the moment of creation, of thought, is all. 


If the moment, this moment, was all.

**Guide:**
Turn right towards Castle. 

Turn left onto castle terrace 

**Mina: **Rushdie will be speaking now, reading his work to a big audience of readers and all of them will be writing themselves into the margins. 

What is that?  

Narcissism? 

Connection?

Is that what it is? Is it about connection? Is it about being read - being seen? Is it about asking- is this you too? Is this you too? Is that the power of it? Is that why we are all posting our dinner on facebook- is it an invitation? An ask, a plea - see me? See me. Tell me I’m real. Am I real? 

but maybe we are all too well read like Rushdie. Maybe all we can see now is ourselves being read by others. Maybe there’s no room left for anyone else to exist. To be free of your gaze.  

**Guide:** 
Turn left onto Cambridge Street, and head back with her to the Traverse

**Mina:** 
See this show up at the Traverse, it says, I will be heard. Right there under the title- its tagline- it’s a demand. 

No, a promise. 

You know what I am writing back in response, up here in my head. 

You know what I am thinking? 

I am thinking? 

Nah! You won’t. 

You’ll no, be heard. 

We’ve all stopped listening to anyone else but ourselves.

Burn it all, everything you write - all that matters is that you wrote. 

All that matters is-  

listen to no one. 

Listen to everyone not listening while composing their 280 character response. 

Write to no one, be read by everyone. 

Write to everyone, be read by no one.

Post your dinner. 

Eat your dinner. 

Give it all away in neat wee claustrophobic screens. 

Give it all away - for likes, freaking emojis and performative support. 

You’re amazing 

No, you’re amazing 

Fuck!

They will all watch you- while thinking about themselves.. 

I will watch you while thinking about myself.

She’ll watch him while thinking about...

Is there something in that?

A writer sees a famous writer and...

Or not a writer.

You know? 

I don’t think that was Salman Rushdie.

I think it was John Knox, David Hume, James Connelly, Robert Burns, Frederick Douglas, Gandhi, Mandela 

Lennon? 

She sees Jesus 

She? A girl? 

A witch? 

a priestess, a whore, a servant, a nurse, an ancient, a runaway, a mother, a lover -an artist? All of them in one...

a middle aged woman sees Jesus or the devil? and she

she thinks he’s only someone she went to school with, went home with...He is maybe a friend of her son, or her neighbour...She fails to see he is starting to stare...She thinks about getting the messages, she thinks about her childhood, her child, her desires, the object of her...Her fears, all her worries...in her own words...Her own words...He is listening in, leaning in...She wishes she had time to to say it all,  to write it all down. That if she did - she would burn them….That if she did... 

She’d start a fire. 

He follows her- taking notes.


**The Audience emerges by Sarah MacGillivray**

**GUIDE:** When you’re back at the traverse stop. 

**AUDIENCE:** (cacophony of voices overlapping) 
I really need a pee, should have gone in there/
/fancy a drink?/
What was that all about it?/
I loved it/
didn’t get it all/
Did you turn the dishwasher off?/ 
and the fight sequence/
up the wall, what a pile of utter
Fancy a drink?/
Oh god I do yes/
Gin and tonic?/

**Guide:** 
Time’s up! 
And Lovely? 
I‘ve places to go, people to see and you do too...See up ahead 
broken heart, dreamer, hard worker. 
lucky fool- a fool, a fool, a-
actor- game changer, play maker...
writer-head shrinker, heartbreaker, heart fixer, hand holder, secret keeper. 
audience, reader- head scratcher, heart starter, pacemaker.
critic, influencer-phone scroller, placeholder, place maker, end stop, pinpoint-nail bite. 
A heart, a heart, and another, so many- beating-here
(whispers)
-and maybe that was all you were supposed to get.
You’re not alone. 
So, on you go, good to see you, on your way, see ya, be seeing you, off you pop...Pal, listen, seriously, time’s-
Go! Join the world, that big beautiful raging world... 
(whispers) 
you’re part of it, afterall- aren’t you?...Go!

You first. 


*Thank you for experiencing Walk This Play.  We’d love to know what you think about the journey.  You can leave feedback by clicking on the link in the app and If you want to support us to create other unique experiences please consider donating to ThickSkin.  Every donation helps us to connect with communities through local theatres and provides work opportunities for writers and creatives starting out in the industry.  
We hope you enjoyed your experience today.*

9: Star Gazing (part 2) / The Audience Emerges

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The Echoes

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3. Vigilante / Shopping List

4. In Memoriam / The Student

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room 10 ECHOES

DOWNLOAD OUR APP TO DISCOVER THIS TOUR AND MANY OTHERS.

The Echoes

1. The Beginning / The Actress Prepares / Andrew Usher

2. The Invisible Worker / The Intern / Burke & Hare

3. Vigilante / Shopping List

4. In Memoriam / The Student

5: Tinder

Discover more geolocated content in our apps.

Are you a creator?

Get in touch

Echoes creative apps

Echoes labs

About us

10 ECHOES