The pearlfisher - Iain F. MacLeod

An epic tale of kinship, money and desire, set amongst the Traveller people of the Scottish Highlands.

Summer 1948 in the North West Highlands. Post-war austerity grips the land, but the pickings are rich for Traveller people, as they trade, poach, rustle - and fish for pearls in the clear water of the rivers.

Relations with the local people hang on a fragile thread, as they barter with one another, juggling language and meaning - and sometimes desire. Then one day Jess, a girl from the village, spies Ali the Traveller close up, trawling the river-bed. Jess steals his pearls, and her lover Roderick pledges to make a necklace for her - setting in motion a chain of events which will change both communities for ever.

Half a century later, in the autumn of 2007, the waters have risen, and the story is still being told and re-enacted.

Iain F. MacLeod's play The Pearlfisher was first staged at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 2007.

'An epic dream of quiet, stubborn resistance to a settled society that patrols the land as if it was a prison camp, suppresses the true sexuality of both men and women, and devours the earth on which we live, The Pearlfisher is a truly impressive 21st-century drama'