Magnetic North and Kirsty Law seek a contemporary dancer for the development and presentation of a new spoken word, song and movement show – Strength in a Whisper, with work taking place in May and June 2026.
The Role
This show is a two-hander, with folksinger Kirsty Law. In this role the dancer plays a part much like a daemon or shadow, mirrors, moves and morphs through the story, embodying silences and expressing the unutterable.
This role has been developed to a first shareable draft by Molly Scott Danter. Due to unavailability, we are looking for another performer to learn the role as it has been developed thus far and to bring their own creative voice and ideas into this final period of development and run of performances. There will be a handover period with Molly as part of the rehearsal process.
Criteria
- Open to all genders, age ranges and ethnicities
- At least 3 years of professional experience
- Demonstrable experience of new work development processes
- Demonstrable experience of working collaboratively
- Demonstrable experience in improvisation
- Demonstrable experience of contributing to devising processes
- A proven ability to learn choreography quickly
Dates
It is necessary for the applicant to be available for all of the days detailed below:
Audition:
30th March – timings and location TBC
Pre rehearsal prep & handover with Molly Scott Danter:
2nd May, 8th May, 9th May – timings and location TBC
Rehearsals:
25th-29th May – Heriot Toun, Scottish Borders
31st May – 14th June – Mull Theatre, Mull
Performance:
12 June – Mull Theatre, Mull
13 June – Bunessen Hall, Mull
15 June -Assembly Roxy , Edinburgh
Fee
Total: £3520, calculated at a weekly rate of £800 per week.
To include: five days prep and pre-rehearsal, three weeks rehearsal, production week and performances, one additional day for a final performance in Edinburgh. And includes two overtime payments of £240 to cover travel to and from Mull necessitated on a rest day.
In addition to the fee, where the performer is based 25 miles or more away from Heriot or Mull (Company bases) – travel expenses will be paid for or reimbursed, single occupancy accommodation will be arranged, and an ITC rate meal allowance will be paid to the performer for every night spent away from home.
To Apply
Please send the following to recruitment@magneticnorth.org.uk with the subject ‘STRENGTH IN A WHISPER – DANCER APPLICATION’
- CV
- Link to video (showreel or improvisation) approx 1-2 mins
- Letter of interest (maximum one A4 page) with detail on how you meet the criteria listed and any expanding on any relevant experience.
Deadline
12noon on Monday 9 March
Please note that any applications received after this point will not be considered.
All applicants will hear back by 5pm on Friday 20 March with auditions to take place on Monday 30 March.
Extra Information
Show Blurb
‘The snow has come and the power is out. Kirsty Law is left alone, ‘powerless’ – or is she?’
Where does power come from?
In these days of anxiety and uncertainty, what security, comfort – and power – can we depend on ourselves to summon?
Law finds the answer to this question in the practices of folk song. When singing an unaccompanied song, moving herself or others in a simple action produced purely by her own body, it performs an act of healing inside herself. The helplessness felt in a terrifying world begins to wane.
Law’s counterpart in contemporary dance mirrors, moves and morphs through the story, embodying silences and expressing the unutterable.
Strength In A Whisper follows Law through twenty-four hours as she grapples and connects with the most vulnerable and strongest parts of herself – her queerness, her Scots language, her perseverance.
An encounter with a quivering young deer prompts a gentle loneliness and uncanny connection.
A breakdown of exhaustion and a splintering of resilience reveals sources of comfort previously unreached for.
A nighttime dance through the shadows of the lamplight exposes hidden safe spaces of desire.
The story is one of self-empowerment, stepping into a new dawn in full voice.’
About this final development stage
This show has been through its first devisory stage of development and this stage sees it take its final form with staging and final changes. This stage of development will involve a role handover, development week at Heriot Toun (Scottish Borders) then two weeks on the Isle of Mull working with Mull Theatre, first a rehearsal week and then a technical week. There will be two performances on Mull followed by one in Edinburgh, with a goal of onward touring in 2027.
The Team / Show Credits
‘Strength In A Whisper’ by Kirsty Law
Co-devised with choreographer Molly Scott Danter and co-written with dramaturg Liam Hurley
Directed by Nicholas Bone
Stage and costume by Emily James
Co-produced by Magnetic North Theatre
Supported by Mull Theatre
With funding from Creative Scotland Open Fund