A COUPLE of days before the first Old Firm game in three years was a rather opportune moment to be discussing the subject matter of Rachel Jury's new stage production with the rest of the cast.

 

Based on interviews with Scots who have experienced sectarianism, Cocktail: Fear, Pain, Power is a thought-provoking piece of theatre that will leave many members of the audience uncomfortable, and many more questioning attitudes they have grown up with.

"The subject is challenging and very relevant, so it is right along my lines," says writer and director Rachel, who has previously worked on pieces focusing on racism towards the Roma community and issues around poverty.

"It was a very interesting process because in the early stages of my research I went to see an event at Glasgow University with Sir Tom Devine who basically did a presentation that claimed sectarianism in Scotland didn't exist, at least institutionally.

"This was before I had even really started talking to people. I thought, 'Well that's interesting, this is a show we don't need to do'. As soon as I started talking to people they said, 'Let me tell you ...' and everybody had a story.

"They are not the dramatic stories of the Tutsi and the Hutu (in Rwanda), they are not the genocide stories, but they are there and they are evident and they impact on people's lives.

"One of the things that is most interesting is how embedded it is in culture and society in Scotland, to an extent that people probably don't recognise what they have accommodated, what they are thinking, what they have adapted. So people adapt their lives and move to other parts of the country."

The idea of using different voices was to reflect the variety of attitudes and approaches to sectarianism. Some believe it is one of Scotland's biggest problems, other say it doesn't exist at all.

Everyone involved who told their stories all insisted on anonymity, which says a lot about attitudes, according to Rachel.

"There is a misunderstanding that it's just a West of Scotland thing. It's more prominent in the West of Scotland but it's all across the country," adds Rachel.

"The data is very confusing because often what happens is fans from Celtic or Rangers will travel from other parts of Scotland for an Old Firm match but they will get arrested in Glasgow. So the statistics suggest the problem is in Glasgow when in fact the people are coming from all over Scotland. You have to dig deep to get the truer picture."

Composer and musician Andrew Cruickshank has worked with Rachel on the music, an important element of the show that offers a lighter alternative to the strong words.

Folk music, neither Irish nor Scottish, bring some light-hearted humour as well as songs with a music hall style.

"I've done a few projects with Rachel and I always seem to learn quite a lot from them," he says. "It's great to be able to use my skills as a musician to encourage people to challenge their thinking. "We have steered clear from using tunes that exist. Only one song is a kind of a football chant, using the idea but not specifically."

The cast of eight professional and community performers includes former MSP Rosie Kane. She says the experience has been emotional and thought-provoking.

"I was raised Irish Catholic in the South Side of Glasgow. I've had to do a lot of inward looking: I'm an atheist, a socialist, I'm about unity and community but it's like a stock of rock. If you cut me in half it's all still there," she adds.

"I've had to really look at my attitudes and how I'm a bit of a victim of that, how I protect that part of myself even though everything else has been handed over to my socialist, feminist politics."

The tour includes a performance at the Scottish Parliament where Rosie will come face to face with many of her former colleagues. "I think I probably did a lot more bizarre performances in the Chamber," she jokes.

Among the cast are call centre worker Andi Rossetter, 38, from Govan, the son of a Presbyterian minister who was brought up in the Highlands.

"I realised I had been thinking about sectarianism without even realising it all my life," he says. "This has been challenging a lot of ideas.

"At the start we thought it wasn't really that big a deal because it wasn't like Northern Ireland, people weren't dying every day. Then you start to listen to what people say and it is a big deal and people just brush it under the carpet."

Student Jordan Shaw, 20, said the project really opened his eyes to the extent of sectarianism in Glasgow.

"I assumed it was all over with, in the past, but working on this project and hearing at all the stories I realise it is something that affects people in their day-to-day lives. Just because of their religious beliefs a person can be persecuted," he adds.

For 57-year-old Sybil Brown from the South Side, it has been an educational experience.

"I have just gone through life avoiding it and ignoring it. I knew it went on but I thought it was different now, it had calmed down," she says." I see it all around me on buses, on facebook, everywhere. I hate injustice and I hate the fact that in workplaces people are judged on what colours they wear."

One of the most interesting insights is from Seweryna Dudzinska, a 28-year-old, actress and musician from Poland who has lived in Glasgow for seven years.

"I didn't know it was called sectarianism but I did feel it," she reveals. "I was working in a factory for a while in Dublin before I came to Scotland. On St Patrick's Day in Glasgow I wanted to celebrate so I wore to work a hoodie saying Ireland and a hat, and a guy said, 'This isn't Ireland' and swore at me.

"I didn't understand what was going on, I was so upset. Only now after many years I have learned more about the history from the show."

Cocktail: Fear, Pain, Power runs on February 19 at Platform Glasgow, on February 28 at Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, and March 5 and 7 at the Glad Cafe, Shawlands.