Thunderstruck

Bennachie Leisure Centre, Insch 

Saturday 2 July 2022 

7:30pm

David Colvin

Ages 12+

Thunderstruck concerns the legacy and mythology surrounding folk musician, composer and innovator, Gordon Duncan, who tragically died in 2005, celebrating fully a working-class Scottish man who transcended his art.

Written and Performed by Fifer, actor and bagpiper David Colvin who was a member of the original cast of the National Theatre of Scotland Play, Black Watch in 2006. Directed By Tom Freeman whose involvement in Scottish theatre spans many years with credits including 7:84 & Communicado Theatre companies.

Thunderstruck is told through the eyes of a young piper from Fife who learns the bagpipes as well as the history, rules and proud traditions of Scotland’s national instrument and watches on as those rules, so painfully learned are torn apart by a man with an unruly, ostentatious, untameable musical talent.

It’s about Scotland and how we as a nation look after and nurture our most talented innovators, our reliance on alcohol as a nation and most importantly Thunderstruck dispels the cultural cringe that comes with the Great Highland Scottish Bagpipe and seeks to consolidate its place in the world’s musical lexicon as an instrument capable a great beauty and great subtlety.

Thunderstruck performed at Piping Live in 2018, sold out the Tron Theatre as part of Celtic Connections 2019, had its official world premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 (where it won a Herald Angel Award and Scottish Arts Club award), had runs in Perth and Adelaide in Australia (yielding more awards) before returning to Edinburgh in 2021 for a sold-out series of shows at the Scottish Storytelling Centre and a “Best of the Fest” accolade from the Sunday Post.

Take whatever romantic notions you have of the bagpipes and leave them at the door.
Part of Scotland’s “Year of Stories” 2022.

Contains strong language throughout.

AWARDS
🏆 Herald Angel Award – Edinburgh Fringe 2019
🏆 Scottish Arts Club Award – Edinburgh Fringe 2019
🏆 Theatre Award – FringeWorld Perth, Australia 2020
🏆 One to Watch award – Adelaide Fringe 2020
🏆 Best of the Fest – Sunday Post 2021

PRESS
Edfringe2021
“An unbelievable, seismic performance that brings together comedy, drama, and some outstanding musical talent…Hilarious and dramatic in equal measure, Thunderstruck is quite unlike anything else.” ★★★★★ TheWeeReview, Adelaide 2020

“The writer and actor has the audience in the palm of his hand” ★★★★★ InDaily, Adelaide/Perth, Australia 2020

“Full of great humour and sadness, and Colvin is a masterful storyteller” ★ ★ ★★ ★ SeeSaw Magazine

“A roller coaster of emotions, from the joyous to the heartbreakingly devastating” ★★★★★ FringeFeed, Edinburgh 2019

“Story of humanity full of pathos and the personal effect one man had on another” ★★★★★ Scottish Field

“Welcome to anyone who wishes to dig beneath the tartan-clad image of Scotland.” ★★★★ Scotsman

OTHER
“’Had no idea what to expect from Thunderstruck… but it was immense” Gary West, BBC

“Thunderstruck will, I’m sure, be a hit. And there will doubtless be some American, Japanese, French and German tourists who will have a much deeper understanding of the Fife vernacular than they had before the show!” Piping Today

Ticket Prices

Adult £10

Under 18 / Full-Time Education £7

Box Office

Tickets will be available from the following outlets:

Bennachie Leisure Centre

Available online now:


Tickets are also available on the door, but booking is advisable.