Holyrood appearance for Hamilton theatre company

Apr 24 2008 By Graham Fraser

A HAMILTON-based performing arts company are set to take part in an influential event at the Scottish Parliament.

DaisyChain will perform their play ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ at Holyrood on June 9 as part of a forum on drugs and alcohol.

“We’ve played in some unusual venues, from the back rooms of pubs to lovely big stages, but the debating chamber at Holyrood is likely to be a memorable one” said Maggie Aitken, writer and producer for DaisyChain.

“This particular play describes the appalling journey of a typical family burdened by addiction.

“It was created two years ago and revived last year for a project that we undertook with Edinburgh Child Counselling Centre.

“It opened the recent annual conference of the Scottish Families Network and it really does speak on their behalf.”

The play, starring Blantyre actor John McQuiston, will be part of Scotland’s Futures Forum, which was created by the Scottish Parliament to help their members, along with policy makers, businesses, academics, and the wider community of Scotland, to look beyond immediate horizons and party politics and deal with addiction issues.

Maggie continued: “We are more than happy to be working with the Scottish Network of Families Affected by Substance Misuse and the Futures Forum.

“We are all keen to make this a day to remember for everyone.”

DaisyChain are also working with Blantyre-based alcohol counselling agency Liber8 on a short play discussing how alcohol is used in everyday life.