Sawney’s Legacy

Please join us this Thursday, May 18th @ 8PM for a special performance of Sawney’s Legacy at the Sunset Theatre in Wells.
Date: Thursday, May 18 @ 8PM
Running Time: @ 70 minutes – no intermission
Box Office Opens @ 7:30PM
Licensed Concession Opens @ 7:30PM
Tickets are $20.00 or Pay What You Can and can be purchased at the door or online at https://www.sunset-theatre.com/tickets

ABOUT Sawney’s Legacy:
Sawney’s Legacy is written and performed by Brendan Bailey.
Brendan has very generously offered this show as a fundraiser for the Sunset Theatre. Thank you Brendan!

An Edwardian doctor explores the legacy his father, poet James Anderson, of Sawney’s Letters renown, left in a far away mining camp in a place called Cariboo.

This solo-performer play is written and performed by Brendan Bailey, directed by Dirk Van Stralen, designed by Emily Bailey, produced by Noble Players Theatrics, and developed with thanks to research provided by historian, Richard Wright.

Sawney’s Legacy is a period piece, runs approximately 70 minutes in length, and at various times during the show explores privileged views of 19th century caucasian society as well as addressing adult themes around family trauma and bias. It is not recommended for those under 10 years of age.

A biographical play about Barkerville poet, James Anderson, Sawney’s Legacy explores an enduring connection between father and son.
Anderson, an 1860s Scottish miner, was known as the Bard of Barkerville and the Poet Laureate of the Cariboo. He was one of the province’s first published poets, and was also known for his poems and lyrics compiled as Sawney’s Letters in 1867. He left Barkerville to return home to Scotland after nearly a decade in late 1871. His 10 year-old son, David, would grow to take after him as a prolific writer in the late 19th Century.

Sawney’s Legacy was developed in part through the Sunset Theatre’s Exploration Series on the ancestral lands of the Dakelh, Lhtako Dené, and Secwépemc Peoples in 2020. This was followed by staged readings in 2021 and a premiere during the Sunset Theatre Speakeasy Festival in July 2022. In late August 2022, Sawney’s Legacy was performed in the Victoria Fringe Festival to great acclaim.

Feedback for the play has included: “mesmerizing,” “amazing,” “deeply sensational” “a really specia lexperience,” “awesome,” “an insightful, complex and comforting escape,” “beautifully written and performed,” “nothing short of remarkable,” “a rich transport back into time,” and “all history should be taught this way.”