About I Am Tiger
A month after losing her big brother to suicide, Laura’s parents buy her a pet tiger. They never explain the tiger and never discuss Laura’s big brother. Not ever. It’s like Laura’s big brother didn’t exist. And having a pet tiger is illegal for a reason. Soon things start to spiral out of control… as things tend to do with feelings of grief… and tigers…
Inspired by two facts – that the number one killer of men in the UK under 40 is suicide, and that there are now more tigers kept as pets than live in the wild – this is a drama for ages 12+ about how to survive when the worst has happened. Heart-breaking, comic and thought-provoking, I Am Tiger is about trying to live with loss, how keeping wild animals at home will quickly increase your shopping bills, and why keeping silent is not always the best solution.
I am Tiger is a new play written by Oliver Emmanuel. Supported by Scottish Government’s Festivals Expo Fund and developed through Imaginate’s Accelerator programme. Accelerator is supported by the PLaCE programme, funded by the Scottish Government (through Creative Scotland), the City of Edinburgh Council and the Edinburgh Festivals.
We are Tiger workshop Creator/Facilitators
Morven Macbeth
Morven is an actor, theatre maker and facilitator based in Scotland. She is an Associate Practitioner with UK theatre company imitating the dog, whose work has, for over 20 years, explored the boundaries between theatre and technology. Morven has toured extensively both nationally and internationally, performing as well as facilitating workshop programmes and leading learning residencies.
Her other work in theatre includes Opening Skinner’s Box (Improbable), Bring the Happy (Invisible Flock) and Called to Account (Tricycle Theatre).
Morven’s film work includes Vampire Diary (Sterling Pictures/Bard Entertainment). TV work includes The Many Primes of Muriel Spark (Reader, BBC) and Outlander (Sony Pictures/Starz).
Morven recently trained as a Relational Dynamics Coach and is a Mental Health First Aider.
Amy Conway
Amy Conway is Theatre Maker, Actor, Facilitator, Playwright, Director, Clown and Civil Celebrant based in Glasgow who experiments with form and collaborates with a variety of interdisciplinary theatre makers and community groups. She is an Associate Director at Loop Theatre, who make inclusive performance work with learning disabled adults.
As a theatre maker, Amy’s immersive, autobiographical work has toured Scotland and the UK. Her interactive solo show which explores depression through 90s video games, Super Awesome World [dir. Rob Jones], has reached an audience of thousands touring theatres and community venues in 2018/19. Her current projects include Shrill [dir. Melanie Jordan], a radical cabaret about the female voice (created with Claire Willoughby and Nerea Bello); and Wanderings, a limited series podcast created in response to lockdown and the loneliness epidemic. Both projects are produced by Scissor Kick and supported by Creative Scotland.
As a playwright, Amy’s play The Warhol Assassin was awarded Fire Exit’s Pyromania bursary for experimental playwriting and this year Mountain was longlisted for The Women’s Prize for Playwriting.
Tawona Sithole
Better known as Ganyamatope (my ancestral family name) my heritage inspires me to make connections with other people through creativity-based learning. I am widely published as a poet and playwright, and short story author who uses both Shona and Ndau in my work. A storyteller and musician, I am co-founder of Seeds of Thought, a non-funded arts group. I am currently UNESCO artist-in-residence at the University of Glasgow, with research and teaching roles in the school of education and medical school. I am also currently a workshop leader with Scottish Youth Theatre. I have a lot of experience working both in primary and secondary schools to adults in different settings, running workshops in creative writing, performance, music, storytelling, drama. As a public speaker I am experienced in doing talks, panel events, chairing, host/MC. Having grown up in a family of storytellers, poets and musicians, the arts and interactive experience come naturally to me, and this reflects in all my work
Oliver Emanuel
Oliver is the Writer of I Am Tiger – full biography below.
Learning and Engagement team
Associate Director Victoria Beesley
Schools Creative Coordinator Hayley Blakeman
Outreach Producer Katie Mitchell
Creative Coordinator Jasmine Munns
With thanks to Callum Douglas and Genna Allan
Co-producers of I am Tiger
Imaginate is the national organisation in Scotland, which promotes, develops and celebrates theatre and dance for children and young people.
We want more high quality children’s work made in Scotland, and so support artists with a year-round programme of creative development. This programme nurtures, supports and encourages artistic excellence by offering a range of opportunities to Scottish based artists and producers, including events, training, residencies, mentoring and special projects.
We celebrate the best of children’s theatre and dance from around the world by producing the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival which showcases high quality, distinctive Scottish and international performances to an audience of around 19,000 children, their teachers, and their families each year. The festival has established itself as one of the best places for programmers from all over the world to see work of the very highest standard. It is also a place where artists meet, see and discuss work, and take part in professional development activities.
We want more children in Scotland to experience work that is deeply engaging, innovative and inspiring. We believe that all children deserve the opportunity to develop their creativity, emotional intelligence and reach their true potential.
This project has been made possible with support from the UK Government to enhance the Edinburgh Festivals’ digital capabilities.
As well as creating and touring its own productions, Perth Theatre collaborates with theatre companies and visiting artists to bring the best of local, national and international work to its stages. The exciting mix of performances covers drama, musicals, children’s shows, dance, comedy, music, community events and more. Learning and Engagement is central to the work of Perth Theatre and Concert Hall. We run a range of theatre and music projects both in our venues and in partnership with organisations and schools across Perth and Kinross.
Learning and Engagement is central to the work of Perth Theatre and Concert Hall. We run a range of theatre and music projects both in our venues and in partnership with organisations and schools across Perth and Kinross
Chloe-Ann Tylor performer
Theatre credits include: Close Quarters (Crucible Theatre); Hansel and Gretel, Trainspotting (Citizens Theatre); The Strange Case Of Jekyll & Hyde (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); The Merchant Of Venice (Bard in the Botanics).
Rebekah Lumsden understudy/assistant director
Rebekah Lumsden graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s BA Acting course in 2016. Since then she has performed in numerous stage shows including, 549: Scot’s of the Spanish Civil War (Wonderfools Theatre Company); George’s Marvellous Medicine, Death of a Salesman, The Spoiling (Dundee Rep Theatre); Butterfly Kiss, The Greatest, Pure Freezing (A Play, A Pie and A Pint); Babes in the Woods (Howden Park Centre). I Am Tiger at Perth Theatre is Rebekah’s first Assistant Director credit.
Oliver Emanuel writer
Oliver Emanuel has written 7 stage plays and over 20 radio plays. Theatre includes: The 306: Trilogy – Dawn, Day & Dusk (Perth Theatre/National Theatre of Scotland); Dragon (Vox Motus/National Theatre of Scotland); The Monstrous Heart (Traverse/Stephen Joseph Theatre); Flight (Vox Motus); Prom (Oran Mor/Traverse/Lemon Tree). Radio includes: Pale Fire, Lanny, The Tenderness of Boys, When The Pips Stop, The Truth About Hawaii, A History of Paper, Emile Zola: Blood Sex & Money (BBC Radio 4). Awards include: Tinniswood Award 2019; Best Series at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2019; Herald Angel 2017; Best Adaptation at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2016; The People’s Choice Victor Award at IPAY 2015; Best Show for Children at the UK Theatre Awards in 2014. Oliver founded the MLitt in Playwriting & Screenwriting at the University of St Andrews with Zinnie Harris.
Lu Kemp director
Lu is the Artistic Director of Perth Theatre, Scotland. She is an award-winning theatre director and dramaturg with a distinctive reputation for her work in new writing, physical theatre and dance.
Lu is an Associate Artist with the internationally renowned company Inspector Sands, for whom created and directed The Lounge (subsequently adapted and toured by the Riksteatern – National Theatre of Sweden), Mass Observation (Almeida), and If That’s All There Is (which won the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Award 2009). For Perth Theatre her work includes: Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Kes by Robert Alan Evans, Six Inches of Top Soil and the Fact it Rains by Kieran Hurley, Shakespeare’s Richard III, Knives in Hens by David Harrower and Aladdin. As a freelance director her work she has worked for The Citizens, The Royal Lyceum Theatre, The National Theatre of Scotland, Artangel, The Tricycle, Almeida and The Royal Shakespeare Company.
Lu has worked as a dramaturg for both theatre and dance companies including Dance Xchange Birmingham, Rambert, Sadler’s Wells and The Place in the UK, and de Stilte Dance in the Netherlands.
Lu began her career as the Scottish Arts Council Trainee Theatre Director at TAG, Citizens Theatre. She later trained on the LEM at Lecoq, Paris, and with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, New York.
Jamie Vartan designer
Designs for theatre include The Importance of Being Earnest, Knives in Hens ( Perth ); Bondagers (Edinburgh Lyceum); Medicine ( Edinburgh Traverse / Galway / St Ann’s Warehouse NYC ); Grief is the thing with Feathers ( Barbican / Dublin / NYC); Arlington (Dublin / NYC); Ballyturk (Dublin / Lyttleton, NT); Misterman (Galway/ NYC / Lyttleton, NT); Khandan (Royal Court); Ravens ( Hampstead Theatre ); Have Your Circumstances Changed? ( Artangel ); The Tin Soldier ( Gate Theatre, Dublin); Mass Observation (Almeida); Happy Days ( Olympia, Dublin ); The Lost Child Trilogy (David Glass Ensemble), with residencies in Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Colombia; Woyzeck in Winter ( Galway / Barbican); Opera includes The First Child, The Second Violinist ( Dublin / Amsterdam / Barbican); The Last Hotel ( Edinburgh Lyceum / Dublin / ROH / Luxembourg / NYC ); La traviata (Malmo); Ariadne auf Naxos (Salzburg ); Carmen (Lisbon); A Village Romeo and Juliet (Wexford ); The Queen of Spades, Ariadne auf Naxos (La Scala ); Eugene Onegin (Opera du Rhin); The Life & Death of Alexander Litvinenko ( Grange Park Opera ); The Pirates of Penzance ( Scottish Opera ); L’isola disabitata ( ROH ), and also productions in Valencia, Bilbao, Marseille, Cagliari, Naples, Florence & Parma ; Film production design includes The Last Hotel ( Sky Arts).
Simon Wilkinson lighting designer
Simon works internationally as a lighting designer for theatre, dance, and opera. He has designed work for most of Scotland’s leading theatre companies.
Recent highlights include Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Disney); Metamorphosis (Vanishing Point); Flight (Vox Motus); The Magic Flute (Robert Lepage).
Other designs include The Panopticon, Interference, The 306: Dawn, Dragon (The National Theatre of Scotland); The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, Roman Bridge, Truant, A Sheep Called Skye (Vox Motus and Tianjin People’s Art Theatre); The Metamorphosis, The Dark Carnival (Vanishing Point); Flight, Dragon, The Infamous Brothers Davenport (Vox Motus); The Not-So-Fatal Death of Grandpa Fredo, Bright Black, Slick (Lyceum, Edinburgh); Lost in Music, Our Fathers, Kora (Magnetic North); Sex and God, Pass the Spoon, Wild Life, After Mary Rose (Dundee Rep).
Other theatre designs include Christmas Tales, Glory on Earth, The Iliad, The Weir, The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe, Hedda Gabler, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The BFG, Bondagers, A Christmas Carol, Cinderella (Lyceum, Edinburgh); Islander (Helen Milne Productions); The Season, Honk (Royal & Derngate); Tay Bridge (Dundee Rep); Crocodile Fever, Meet Me at Dawn, Letters to Morrissey, Black Beauty, Grain in the Blood, Tracks of the Winter Bear (Traverse Theatre); Knives in Hens (Perth Theatre); A Game of Death and Chance, Enlightenment House (National Trust for Scotland); Scotties (Theatre Gu Leor); Crumbles Search for Christmas (West Yorkshire Playhouse); God of Carnage, This Wide Night (Tron Theatre, Glasgow); We Are All Just Little Creatures, Teenage Trilogy, Mamababame, PUSH (Curious Seed); Fisk, The Lost Things, Feral (Tortoise in a Nutshell); Dr Stirlingshire’s Discovery, Light Boxes (Grid Iron); Dance of Death (Candice Edmunds); Grounded (Firebrand); After The End, Topdog/Underdog (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow); Chalk Farm, The Static (ThickSkin).
Simon has won the CATS Award for Best Design three times – for Flight in 2018, Black Beauty in 2017 and Bondagers in 2015. Over the years, his lighting has created a Guinness World Record, brought 30,000 people to a windswept Highland Forest, and caused reports of an alien invasion
Danny Krass sound designer
Ros Steen Voice Director
Emma Claire Brightlyn Movement Consultant
Production Team
Production Manager Niall Black
Technical Stage Manager Michael Heasman
Deputy Stage Manager/Lighting Operator Jessica Ward
Sound Operator Paul Falconer
Presented by Perth Theatre
Artistic Director Lu Kemp
Head of Production Gavin Johnston
Head of Technical Services John Pike
General Manager Sandra Grieve
Head of Stage Murray Airlie
Stage Manager Marianne Forde
Lighting Francois Langton
Fee Dalgleish
Rebekah Pattison
Sound Paul Falconer
Christie Heriot
Facundo Mato
Head of Costume Louise Robertson
Master Carpenter Zach Allen
Scenic Artist Martha Steed
Technicians Charlie Martin
Scott Main
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