Perth Theatre’s artistic director Lu Kemp and playwright Kieran Hurley have created A Six Inch Layer of Topsoil and The Fact it Rains, a lively piece of ceilidh theatre based on conversations with Perthshire land dwellers and owners.
Playfully weaving words gathered from meetings in local communities with music and song, A Six Inch Layer of Topsoil and The Fact it Rains previews with two intimate performances in Perth Theatre’s Rehearsal Room on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 May before touring throughout Perth and Kinross.
In Spring 2017, in the lead-up to Perth Theatre’s reopening, Kieran Hurley and Lu Kemp drove round Perthshire, interviewing people who live and work on the land – mainly farmers, both new and those whose families have lived here for generations - and those who write about it; journalists and campaigners. They talked to people about the changing shape of the land over the past twenty years and what they expect from the future.
The result, A Six Inch Layer of Topsoil and The Fact it Rains will visit village halls, community and arts venues across the area in May. It follows on from last year’s successful rural tour of And Then Come the Nightjars. 
Melody Grove and Aly Macrae (The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, National Theatre of Scotland) will play a cast of characters from across Perthshire, talking about the ups and downs of rural life today, interspersed with musical interludes.
Lu Kemp, who directs A Six Inch Layer of Topsoil and The Fact it Rains said:
“We’re delighted to be revisiting the venues we took last year’s hugely successful tour to, and to be visiting new ones for the first time! We hope to build the tour year on year. As a theatre we are keen to be going into local communities to perform, as well as welcoming those communities into our space. This piece was made in conversation with people living and working across Perthshire, we hope audiences will recognise themselves within it. It’s a bit of a conversation piece, a bit of storytelling, a bit of a ceilidh, a night out with characters people will recognise and enjoy.”
Click here for tickets and info for A Six Inch Layer of Topsoil and The Fact it Rains in Perth Theatre or call Box Office on 01738 621031. Tickets are also available from the venues.