Brass band music in the spotlight for new Scottish play

The Herald Scotland

03-05-2025

'There was always music in the house, and it was something I picked up from a young age. It has always been a nice bond to have with my parents.'
Music, and specifically brass band music, is at the heart of Fishwick's latest theatrical role.
Karen Fishwick (Image: Colin Mearns/Newsquest)
The acclaimed Dennistoun-based actor, whose recent credits include National Theatre of Scotland's hit musical Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour and the Royal Shakespeare Company's Romeo and Juliet, is returning to NTS for KELI, the story of a fiery, foul-mouthed teenager in a former mining town, for whom coal means very little, but music is everything.
Woven into this tale are elements of fantasy and magic, of humour, history and politics. (It marks 40 years since the miners' strike, a defining moment in the history of the British coal industry which pitted thousands of workers against then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher amid her government's plans to shut dozens of coal mines.)
Martin Green of folk band Lau (Image: Colin Mearns/Newsquest)
This is a joint production between NTS and Lepus Productions, the company formed by Ivor Novello winner and virtuoso accordionist Martin Green, of folk trio Lau.
Green has written the script and the live brass score for KELI, following his two-year 'odyssey' deep into the world of brass bands.
It began by chance near his home in Midlothian. Spotting a poster advertising an event called Brass in the Park, he discovered a self-sustaining world of music-making that – like the folk tradition – had retained its social function and was part of the warp and weft of the communities who performed it.
Liberty Black as Keli in the new NTS production (Image: NTS)
KELI has grown out of interviews Green did for critically acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series Love, Spit and Valve Oil, and it began life as a radio drama. Now, it comes to the stage, and will tour Scottish venues throughout May and June.
'To be making KELI with National Theatre of Scotland and director Bryony Shanahan 40 years on from the miners' strike, feels absolutely right,' says Green.
'An incredible team of visionary people. Perfect."
The cast of KELI in rehearsal (Image: NTS/Julie Howden)
KELI will feature brass band music from Green's acclaimed album Split the Air, and performances from leading Scottish brass bands, including Whitburn and Kingdom Brass. A small ensemble, including Fishwick, will play live on stage.
It is 'the perfect fusion' says Fishwick, who plays Keli's mother Jayne.
'I'm often on stage, looking down at the pit and thinking - I want to be in there,' she says, adding with a laugh: 'And then, finally, I get there and I look up at the actors and think, I want to be up there.'
She adds: 'This role is a really good balance of both. Martin has written a beautiful score. I'm absolutely chuffed to be part of it.'
Karen Fishwick in rehearsal (Image: Colin Mearns/Newsquest)
Fishwick first picked up a cornet at the age of eight, inspired by her music instructor father and primary school teacher mother, who met through a shared love of trombone-playing. Her main instrument is the trumpet, but there are no trumpets in brass bands, she points out, helpfully.
'At my audition, Martin asked me - how would you feel about playing the euphonium?' she says, smiling.
'And I love it. More air, bigger mouthpiece, but there are a lot of transferable skills between trumpet and euphonium. I just needed to adapt to the difference.'
Karen Fishwick (Image: Colin Mearns/Newsquest) Jayne is a 'very complex' character, explains Fishwick.
'She has a beautiful, close, visceral relationship with her daughter, there is as much fierce love as there is angst,' she says.
'She has some challenges. The world we live in can be a battle for her, and Keli doesn't know quite what to expect from her mum.'
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Fishwick has recently become a mother, and she is thoughtful when asked if that has had an impact on how she approached the role.
'In some ways it's freeing, in others it leaves you with a raw sensitivity,' she says, after a pause.
'That is interesting to tap into, but also, it throws up walls in a different way. I feel like I have a new duty to protect myself, whereas before, I might have been happy to draw on personal reflections.'
Having a one-year-old while managing rehearsal and performance schedules means 'the juggle is never-ending,' says Fishwick, fervently.
'It's a small miracle I'm actually managing to do this at all,' she says, with a sigh. 'How do you do it? How does anyone do a job when they have a baby? Where do you put them?'
She adds: 'NTS and Lepus have been really supportive, and we have a community of helpful friends and grandparents assisting too.
'And actually, there is a lot of flexibility in this job that most people who do a nine to five won't have. There is some support now, from organisations like PiPa [Parents and carers in the performing arts] and that's great, because it is stressful.'
Liberty Black and Olivia Hemmati in rehearsal (Image: Colin Mearns/Newsquest)
Fishwick grew up in Clarkston in East Renfrewshire, and studied acting at Motherwell College, now part of New College Lanarkshire.
Alongside her roles in theatre, she has appeared on TV in the likes of Outlander and Call the Midwife.
'Television and theatre are very different beasts," she says. "Theatre and music seem more natural settings for me, though I loved having a go at the screen stuff. It would be nice to do more.'
Bringing KELI to the stage, alongside Phil McKee, Olivia Hemmati, Billy Mack and Liberty Black, a final-year student at Glasgow's Royal Conservatoire of Scotland making her professional debut in the title role, has been 'a dream', says Fishwick.
'I'm really excited to see how people react to hearing brass music on the main stage,' she explains. 'It's not something that comes along every day.
'I hope the power of it catches people by surprise.'
Keli previews at the Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling on May 10 and then tours to the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh (May 13 to 17); Dundee (May 22 to 24); Perth Theatre (June 4 to 7) and Tramway in Glasgow (June 11 to 14).