Anthropocene

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Thurs & Sat, King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Jan 31 & Feb 2 environment, archaeology and history,” said Louise. “As a writer, I love the idea of hugely dramatic moments and what comes afterwards. We’re also trying to bring real people to the stage and the characters we meet are really quite modern.

“The themes of Anthropocene are both perennial and current. “Human beings have always striven to conquer distant and hostile territories. The 21st Century has opened the field to rich amateurs who might previously have stayed at home and charted on maps the progress of expeditions they had funded.

“It’s a story of over-wielding ambition, murder, human sacrifice and thwarted love.”

Louise, 52, studied history at ▼ Composer Stuart Macrae and librettist Louise Welsh present the Arctic-set show, inset.

Glasgow University and worked in a secondhand bookshop for several years before publishing her first novel, the acclaimed and award-winning The Cutting Room. She has written a further seven books, including The Bullet Trick and The Girl On The Stairs, and was the writer in residence for Glasgow University and Glasgow School of Art.

“I’m back in the world of the novel just now and I’m currently bashing away at that,” she added. “My novel writing flows into this and vice versa.

“This has been an amazing thing in my life and Anthropocene is one of the most exciting projects I’ve been involved with.”