Christina Cox speaks with Sandy Nelson about the journey behind his new one-act play.
Creative inspiration can hit us at the most unlikely of places and times.
Take writer and actor Sandy Nelson. Two years ago, in pursuit of “the rural dream” (having moved from Glasgow to Argyll in 2005), Nelson and his wife made the ultimate relocation, moving to the tiny 12 x 5 mile Isle of Unst, the most northerly inhabited of the Shetland isles.
Shortly after having settled in, Nelson was out on a walk with his dog when he came across a disused airstrip. Inspiration hit. “I was struck with the idea for a series of 5-minute sitcoms about this air traffic controller who was a metro-centric lounge king type struggling to deal with life after being sent by contractual obligation to a tiny air strip on a tiny island.” Nelson’s original idea was to film skits starring himself with some local residents thrown in for good measure and then posting them onto You Tube.
However, through a suggestion from radio producer Marilyn Imrie, a good friend and colleague, he wrote the idea up into a 15-minute radio script which was then broadcast during BBC Radio Scotland’s Friday morning comedy slot. With more encouragement from Imrie, Nelson sent a script to David McLennan at Oran Mor for consideration in A Play, a Pie and a Pint.
The result was Baltamire, a one-act play that Nelson himself is starring in. Directed by Julie Ellen, when asked what it was like working with another director on his own play that he is acting in, Nelson replied, “It is weird being directed in something you wrote but in a good way. Julie manages to find things in my writing I didn't know were there and offers me new ways of performing the piece. But it also means that if she needs to alter or cut anything she can consult me rather than take the full decision herself. It's a good relationship.”
And as to the character of Donald; what similarities in his hilarious voyage of self discovery to that of the writer’s own journey in life? “The difference between myself and the main character is that my wife and I sought out the rural dream whereas he had it forced upon him.” However, “I was able to draw on my own experience... I could look back at myself when I first arrived on the island and how I dealt with adapting to the very different way of life I observed. I would also think about the reaction of some of our friends back in Glasgow who figured we had moved to the Moon...”
For Nelson, life in Unst seems to have settled comfortably. And though he may not miss the trappings of city life (the traffic, the crowds, the traffic, the junkies, the traffic, impatience or the traffic), he does miss one thing: a good Indian take away. “It’s 50 miles to my nearest curry shop across two bodies of water.”
And that original idea about filming short YouTube clips? “It has been two years now since that dog walk and I haven’t filmed a frame at the air strip.”
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