To keep up a solo performance with musical interludes, mouth music, and a lyrical quality to the prose for over an hour is no mean feat and one which Colvin does with aplomb. Bullied, at first for being the minister’s son and latterly for daring to like Gordon Duncan’s unique sound, it doesn’t stop his love for the music and when he plays at the end it is impossible not to be impressed. He has to explain the Fife dialect to the audience and charts his school pipe band’s progress from last place to World Champions. Colvin plays the part of a number of characters, including his grumpy pipes teacher, inviting one audience member up to play the part of Colvin himself during his very first lesson. Colvin takes the audience on a mesmerising journey through his own relationship with the pipes at times a love affair, at others a frustrating rocky road, but always with a determination to feel the Celtic traditions of this powerful instrument. David Colvin, writer and performer of this tribute to the late, great piper, witnessed this performance and it changed everything he thought he knew about piping.īut this is Colvin’s story really, not Gordon Duncan’s. At a special concert held at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow Duncan, created quite a stir when he played his own brand of bagpipe tunes, notably performing AC/DC’s Thunderstruck. A trailblazer in his field, he created a new sound with the most traditional of instruments: the bagpipes. Tickets are £10 and are available here.Gordon Duncan was a renegade. There will be two performances of Thunderstruck – at 2pm and 8pm – on Saturday 9 September in the Studio at Carnegie Hall. ‘My first ever performance on any stage was with Lochgelly High School choir in Carnegie Hall, so the building has history for me.’ Olivier nominee Colvin said he was proud to be premiering the show in Fife.
The play, which is directed by Tom Freeman, took 18 months to write after a fellow actor challenged Colvin to articulate his passion for Duncan in performance.
It’s set in Fife and about Fifers and it’s a brilliant story. David Colvin said: ‘As a piper I always knew someone would attempt to tell the story of how Gordon Duncan revolutionised bagpipes, how he affected the young pipers who loved his tunes, of which I was one, his conflict with the piping establishment and his end which came all too soon.’Ĭhris Foote of Dunfermline Delivers, one of the organisers of Outwith, said: ‘We are over the moon we’ve managed to get the world premiere by David Colvin. Acclaimed Fife bagpiper and actor David Colvin will deliver the world premiere of his one-man show Thunderstruck in the studio at Carnegie Hall as part of Outwith Festival‘s theatre programme.Ĭolvin, who was the original piper for the National Theatre of Scotland’s worldwide smash hit Black Watch, cut his teeth as a youngster playing with Lochgelly High School Pipe Band and Thunderstruck charts the band’s journey to the World Pipe Band Championships at a time when the piping world was being turned upside down by Perthshire binman Gordon Duncan who could play ACDC’s fast and furious Thunderstruck on the bagpipes with ease.
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