Alan Bissett

Playwright, novelist, performer, bletherer.


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Moira Trilogy Tour 2024

Many of you will know that there are now three of my award-winning ‘one-woman shows’, The Moira Monologues (2009), More Moira Monologues (2017) and Moira in Lockdown (2022). In 2024 I’m setting off on a tour of Scotland to perform ALL THREE SHOWS IN ONE NIGHT (two intervals included, obviously) for the first time EVER. Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman calls it “an absolute classic of Scottish working-class comedy.” 4**** The Guardian also gave the Trilogy a 4**** star review, commenting that, “The three shows together could have been overwhelming, but instead paint a fuller, funnier picture of this singular character.”

So here’s yer official Moira Trilogy tour 2024:

3rd Feb – Theatre Royal, Dumfries. Tickets available here.

17th Feb – Heritage Centre, Buchanhaven, (nr Peterhead), Aberdeenshire. Tickets available here. (Moira pt.1 only)

18th Feb – Village Hall, Johnshaven, Aberdeenshire. Tickets available here. (Moira pt.1 only)

1st Mar – Eden Court, Inverness. Tickets available here.

2nd Mar – Lyth Arts Centre, Lyth, near Wick. Tickets available here. (Moira pt.2 only)

15th March – The Aurrie, Lower Largo, Fife. Tickets available here. (Moira pts.2 & 3 only)

17th Mar – Websters Theatre, Glasgow. Tickets available here.

30th Mar – Mull Theatre, Mull. Tickets available here.

13th Apr* – Corrie & Sannox Village Hall, Arran. Tickets available here. (Moira pts. 1 & 2 only) *Rescheduled from 6th April

27th Apr – Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling. Tickets available here (Moira pt. 1) and here (Moira pts. 2&3)

11th May – Perth Theatre, Perth. Tickets available here.

24th May – Parish Hall, Alvah, Aberdeenshire. Tickets available here. (Moira pt.3 only)

25th May – Woodside Fountain Centre, Aberdeen. Tickets available here. (Moira pts.1&2 only)

1st June – Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh. Tickets available here.

There may be more dates added in the fullness of time, so keep your eyes peeled. But hopefully see some of you there for this epic undertaking!


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Upcoming Appearances – Autumn 2023

Got a handful of Moira shows coming up in the rest of the year, plus I’m promoting my new book Lads: A Guide to Respect and Consent, which you might want a keek at as well. Details below:

CHELTENHAM

Sun 15th Oct – Living Your Best Life, with myself, Natasha Devon and Michelle Elman @ Cheltenham Literary Festival, 2pm. Tickets available here.

EIGG

Thurs 19th Oct – The Moira Monologues 1 @ Eigg Community Hall, Doors 7pm / Show 7.30pm. Tickets available on the night.

SKYE

Tues 14th Nov – The Moira Monologues 1 @ Edinbane Hall, Edinbane, Doors 7pm / Show 7.30pm. Tickets available here.

Wed 15th Nov – The Moira Monologues 2: More Moira @ Las Port Righ, Portree, Doors 7pm / Show 7.30pm. Tickets available here.

Hopefully see you at one of these. Do say hi afterwards!

Ax


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Moira in Lockdown in Glasgow

Not only was it nice to end the year as no.44 on The List magazine’s rundown of the Hot 100 creative people in Scotland in 2022, but….

Glasgow people… here is what you wanted!

Tickets are now onsale for MOIRA IN LOCKDOWN, my most recent show, playing at Òran Mór on April 2nd as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival. And I’ll be doing a DJ set afterwards if you wanna get your groove on til midnight. Yaaaas! 😁

More dates to be announced in the new year, but Glasgow will be the big wan.


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2023 gigs

I’m holed up writing stuff, but am venturing out for a few gigs before the end of the year.

For those of you in the Oban area, I will be appearing at the Bookends Festival on Sat 15th October, talking about my novella Lazy Susan. Also, I’ll probably take yous all to the pub afterwards. 🍻 7pm at the Victory Hall in Benderloch. 🤩

And for you lucky Falkirk peeps you’ll get to see Moira in Lockdown for its first ever performance outside the Edinburgh Fringe, PLUS I’ll be doing a DJ set til the wee hours if you’re wanting a bop afterwards! 🤩

2nd Dec, doors at 7.30pm in Behind The Wall, to get your Christmas season started with a bang! 😘Link for tickets here.

Finally, I’ll be doing a table reading of my play from earlier this year, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, about Scotland’s most prominent suffragette, Caroline Phillips. It’s at Aberdeen Central Library on Nov 12th, 2pm. See below for ticket details.


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Moira in Lockdown: the reviews are IN!

Well! There was me worried about my new Edinburgh Fringe show, Moira in Lockdown, being the disappointing third chapter of what is now the Moira Trilogy. BUT! The reviews for it have come out and, fortunately, they are EXCELLENT! Whoop!

“Moira’s back-to-the-wall willingness to take on all-comers is the constant powerhouse of Alan Bissett’s humour.” – 5***** – Broadway Baby

“Heart-stoppingly funny, and heart-warming, Alan Bissett has created nothing less than an hour of storytelling perfection.” 5***** – The QR

“Hugely entertaining and strangely moving.” 4**** – Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman

“Bissett’s skill as a writer-performer with Moira has always been to take a potentially one-note character and add new dimensions to her, without ever intruding upon his vicious one-liners. For his 2022 show, he excels at Moira’s lived experience universal while keeping her edge.” – 4**** The List

“Keenly felt, dryly observed and hysterically funny.” – 4**** – British Theatre Guide

Well, that’s a relief! Moira in Lockdown is running at the Scottish Storytelling Centre til 23rd August, at 6.30pm. Tickets available here.


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Moira in Lockdown: tickets onsale now!

She’s back, folks. After the success of the first two episodes of my ‘one-woman show’, The Moira Monologues (2009) its sequel, More Moira Monologues (2017), Falkirk’s hardest woman returns in a brand-new play coming to the Edinburgh Fringe: Moira in Lockdown!

The show runs from 3rd-23rd August (except 11th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 22nd) at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile at 6.30pm (1hr). You can book tickets here.

In this new installment, Moira faces her toughest challenge yet: surviving a pandemic with only vodka, fags and her BFF Babs on Zoom. Take that, Bear Grylls!

Journey through the highs and lows of lockdown with myself, writer-performer Alan Bissett, returning as Moira as she lusts after Joe Wickes, rages at Cummings and grows her own weed (might as well, seeing as the f**kin world’s ending, eh Babs?). She’s ‘the most charismatic character to appear on a Scottish stage in a decade’ ★★★★★ (The Scotsman) and this time she canny even leave the hoose! Directed by Sacha Kyle.

If you want to get up to speed on the Moira story so far, there are a few ways to do so:

The scripts for The Moira Monologues and More Moira Monologues are available to buy in one volume here.

You can watch me performing The Moira Monologues live at Falkirk Town Hall in 2010 here.

You can see both Moira Monologues shows in person in the Hopeville Social Club in Inverurie on Sat July 2nd and in The Three Churches pub in Lochwinnoch on Fri July 22nd (07540420798 to reserve tickets)

“Yaaaaas, Babs! Let’s see how pished we can get afore lunchtime!”

x


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Moira in Lockdown: new show coming in August

https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/edinburgh-fringe-falkirks-hardest-granny-returns-to-make-it-a-festival-hat-trick-3667688

Falkirk’s hardest granny returns to make it a Festival hat-trick

Falkirk’s hardest granny, Moira Bell, is heading back to the Fringe, guaranteeing more hilarity as she relives surviving the pandemic with only vodka, fags and her BFF Babs on Zoom to keep her going.

Alan Bissett’s comic creation returns to the Festival following her 2009 debut The Moira Monologues, which was followed by the Fringe First winning sequel, More Moira Monologues.

In Moira In Lockdown, the third play of the trilogy, Falkirk’s hardest woman faces her toughest challenge yet, the pandemic, as she journeys through the highs and lows of lockdown with writer/performer Alan Bissett returning the role once described as “the most charismatic character to appear on a Scottish stage in a decade” as she lusts after Joe Wickes, rages at Cummings, and grows her own weed.

“I am hugely excited to be reuniting with director Sacha Kyle to bring back a character that audiences have taken to their hearts so much over the years. The previous two Moira Monologues were an absolute joy to perform – it always is when you’re being a character who says the unsayable – but I needed a good reason to bring Moira back, rather than just doing so for the sake of it,” says Bissett, himself from Falkirk and author of the novels Boyracers, Death of a Ladies’ Man and Pack Men.

He continues, “Reflecting on the bizarre experience the world has had for the last two years, through the particular Scottish, working-class voice of Moira Bell, seems like the only justifiable reason. Once I’d made that decision, I really had to think about what Moira’s lockdown experience would’ve been: the extent to which it was similar to my own and the ways in which it wildly diverged.”

Moira In Lockdown will run at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the High Street from August 3-23 (not 11, 15, 17, 19, 22), at 6.30pm and lasts one hour, with tickets going on sale on June 9.

Daniel Abercrombie, programme and events manager, at the Centre, says, “We are delighted that the Moira Monologues will be returning to The Scottish Storytelling Centre this festival season as part of our biggest Fringe programme to date.

“In Scotland’s Year of Stories what better way to delve into the depths of lockdown than through the exhilarating exploits of Falkirk’s hardest granny Moira.”

Bissett adds, “I can only hope I do justice to the previous two shows, in what will be the third and final part of what is now the Moira trilogy. I mean, nobody wants The Godfather Part III, do they? Hopefully that sense of responsibility to the character, and expectation from the audience, will provide for a unique Fringe experience come August and bring Moira’s story to a satisfying end.”

Bissett’s other plays include Turbo Folk and the writer, who won the Glenfiddich Scottish Writer of the Year in 2011, has also written several episodes of BBC Scotland’s long-running drama River City. He is currently working on his first novel for over ten years, The Coven and the Drowners.


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Moira is back in 2022!

Well, it has been a while since my rip-roaring ‘one-woman shows’ The Moira Monologues and its award-winning sequel, More Moira Monologues. Pre-pandemic, in fact. But it’s time to slip back into Moira’s high-heeled boots for some upcoming performances of the hardest woman in Falkirk.

Fri 4th Feb (7.30pm) – Lochwinnoch Golf Club. The Moira Monologues. Tickets here.

Sat 12th Mar (7pm) – Dunoon Burgh Hall. The Moira Monologues + More Moira Monologues + Alan Bissett’s Hoose Perty. So, folks, you’re getting a double bill of BOTH Moira shows PLUS a club night afterwards DJ-ed by me! Tickets here.

Fri 18th Mar (7pm) – Lochwinnoch Golf Club. More Moira Monologues. Tickets here.

See yese there, Babs! x


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Welcome to 2022!

Happy new year, folks, and welcome to the year we – finally? – see an end to the Pandemic!

I’m still working on my new novel ABOUT WITCHES! But in the meantime, here are some ways you can catch up with what I’m upto early this year:

Fri Jan 14th (9pm) – Alan Bissett’s Hoose Perty. Given Omicron / folk isolating again / nobody going out in January anyway / everybody being skint and a bit down, I thought I’d bring back my Hoose Perty on Zoom for your hip-shaking, foot-tapping enjoyment. For anybody who hasn’t been, the premise is simple:Get a wee bit dressed up, and maybe some disco lights on in your room.Log onto Zoom using the link below.I will play THE BEST upbeat grooves from across the decades and genres – Bowie to Beyonce, Prince to Primal Scream – and then we all just…dance. Zoom link here if you wanna pop in between 9pm-1am: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83193287140

Sat 22nd Jan (11am) – A Hebridean Happening For John McGrath. This is an free online panel discussion of the legacy of John McGrath’s play Random Happenings in the Hebrides, featuring myself and Lewis-based actor John Stahl (Game of Thrones, High Road), Dolina Maclennan (singer, actor, writer, broadcaster and former 7:84 cast member), Scotsman theatre critic Joyce McMillan, and director Laura Cameron-Lewis – as well as recreating a few scenes from the play.

Feb 24th – Bella Caledonia: An Anthology. Some of you more independence-inclined folks out there may recall a poem I wrote (TEN YEARS AGO!!!) which went viral on Youtube, called Vote Britain, in which I rather mocked ‘Our Precious Union’. Well, it is being published by Leamington Books in an anthology of writings from the pro-independence website Bella Caledonia, which also includes work from Irvine Welsh, Alasdair Gray, Kathleen Jamie and Andy Wightman. Well worth a look.

Oh, and there also may be a few guerilla performances of The Moira Monologues, but I will update you once those are confirmed 😉

Happy January…and get your booster!


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2021 update

Hi folks, I know it’s been a while since I have kept you up to date on what’s been happening in 2021.

As you might know, I published a new novella, my first extended prose work in nine years, called Lazy Susan, at the end of 2020. It was extraordinarily well received, and you can buy a signed copy of it here.

Two of my early plays, The Ching Room and Turbo Folk, were recently published together in a new edition, which you can buy here.

Most excitingly, I have been funded by Creative Scotland to write my first full-length novel in a looooong time, called The Coven and the Drowners, which I am hoping will be out sometime in 2023 and is going to be AMAAAAZING.

Also, I have made a tentative return to the stage after lockdown. I performed my one-man play The Red Hourglass in Oct 2021 and boy was it enjoyable. It was so lovely to reconnect with an audience after so long spent in my jammies and slippers.

Alan in The Red Hourglass, Oran Mor, Oct 2021

I will also be making an appearance at the Word on the Street festival on Fri Oct 22nd, online, previewing excerpts from The Coven and the Drowners, so if you want to be among the first EVER to hear it, please do log on. You can book tickets here.

On Sunday 28th November I will be appearing IN PERSON at the Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival with my partner, the novelist Kirstin Innes, for my first live book event since the start of the pandemic. You can buy tickets here.

Isn’t it lovely to be back out in the world! Whoop!

x