Ships of 1801 is an original dramatic concert performed by local and recognized musicians in period costume. Song, dance, and Gaelic verse are tied together by live narration, commemorating the culture that early Scottish settlers brought with them to Nova Scotia. It plays on the main stage of the 150th Antigonish Highland Games on Saturday, July 13th at the Keating Centre on the St. FX Campus. A second performance brings the show to Pictou’s deCoste Centre on Saturday July 20th.
In 1801, five ships arrived in Pictou Harbour: the Nora, the Sarah, the Dove, Hope, and Good Intent. They carried Scottish settlers who left behind everything they knew, risking their lives for freedom from oppression, freedom to practice and maintain their Gaelic language, serve their God, own land, and provide for themselves and their descendants. Their music and culture helped them cope with the hazardous ocean voyage, tragic loss of life, deplorable on-board conditions, and the great uncertainty of their futures. Ships of 1801 asks, “Who will remember?”
The musical features several performers who, like the show’s producer Duncan MacDonald, are direct descendants of these early immigrants – some of whom came to the Port Hood area. “It was music and story-telling that sustained these pioneers individually and as a culture, so it’s fitting that we remember them this way,” he says. From traditional tunes to new songs, Ships of 1801 provides a living record of the culture of the Gaels that continues to thrive among North Eastern Nova Scotian communities.
Hailing from Antigonish, Pictou, Inverness County and beyond, the cast list includes tenor Tom MacDonald, alto Janice Alcorn, young singer/songwriters Sheumias MacLeod and Haley MacDonald, John Spyder MacDonald, storyteller Terry MacIntyre, pipers Heather MacIsaac and Frank Beaton, fiddler Brian MacDonald, Gaelic singers Christine, Mairinn, Eilidh, and Seonaid Campbell, young actors David Stewart, Ewan MacDonald, and Alex Kennedy, dancers Jenny Cluett, Abigail MacDonald, and Carly MacDonald, a Gaelic choir lead by Andy Hirt, lead narrators Charlie Mason and Alistair Hamilton, Gaelic ambassador Lewis MacKinnon, award-winning songwriters Carmel Mikol and Kim Wempe, and a local children’s chorus lead by Katie Jamieson and Janice Alcorn. The onstage band is directed by Rob Wolf and features pianist Jim Ralph and flutist Emery Van de Wiel.
This year’s performance is dedicated to the female descendants of those original settlers. Many lost husbands and brothers to battle and then lost children to illness on the ships. But they were pillars of the communities, banding together to care for each other’s children and providing a vital connection to traditional crafts, music, language, and dancing. This long line of strong, influential women continues to be organizers, caregivers, innovators, and tradition-bearers in our own communities today.
Performances:
Saturday July 13th at 7:30pm
150th Antigonish Highland Games
St. FX KMC Arena, Antigonish
Tickets $29.50 adults / $7.75 child (6-16 years)
Tickets available now at TicketAtlantic.com or any TicketAtlanic kiosk
Saturday July 20th at 8:00pm
deCoste Centre, Pictou
Tickets $25 / $22 members
Tickets available at decostecentre.ca
