Soundhouse: The Rugged Isle

Pioneering Glasgow-born filmmaker Jenny Gilbertson directs this poignant “story documentary” about crofting families in Shetland.

Jenny’s husband-to-be plays Johnny: a young man torn between his duty to home and his love for Enga, with the promise of a new life in Australia. Hailed by John Grierson - father of the British documentary movement - as “one of the best descriptions of life in the country anybody has yet made”, this tender and beautiful dramatisation of Shetland life surpasses the bounds of both fiction and non-fiction filmmaking.

Soundhouse Winter Festival is proud to present this extraordinary Scottish film, with music commissioned by HippFest for award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer from Fair Isle: Inge Thomson, performing with Shetland-born Catriona Macdonald - considered one of the world's leading traditional fiddle players.

With: John Gilbertson, Enga Stout.

Performing live: Inge Thomson, Catriona Macdonald

The show will be introduced by a short solo set by Amy Laurenson

This performance was originally commissioned by HippFest: a world class Festival for silent film, cultivating an international community with an adventurous appetite for extraordinary cinema . The commission was supported by Creative Scotland’s National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations

Screening material courtesy of the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive.

The Traverse Theatre is funded by Creative Scotland and The City of Edinburgh Council.

If you have access requirements, please contact our Sales and Welcome Team on boxoffice@traverse.co.uk or 0131 228 1404 so we can arrange reserved seating for you and discuss how else we can best support your visit.