The words that have been appearing across Perth these past weeks are Alanah’s. They are the same handwritten notes that appear, unexplained, throughout the play. What began as a mystery on the city’s streets turns out to be the story’s own beating heart.
Alanah has her best friend’s wedding to plan, a grieving neighbour to check on, teenage clients she can’t stop worrying about, and now a phantom admirer graffitiing mysterious words of
encouragement for her every night. But she’s got everything under control. She’s absolutely fine... “Remember you are beauty full” is a love-letter to ordinary people. Warmly observed, fiercely funny, and quietly devastating. In a world that can feel overwhelming, Matthew McVarish’s one-woman play delivers something rare: the big laugh and the big sigh, all in the same breath.
Leading the production is Julie Cullen, the Glasgow-born actress fast becoming one of Scotland’s most talked-about performers. Cullen currently stars as Joanna in Richard Gadd’s high-profile new BBC drama Half Man, the eagerly awaited follow-up to Baby Reindeer. A theatre performer at heart, Cullen returns to Scotland and Perth Theatre to lead this demanding solo production, playing Alanah in what is her first major theatre lead since her screen career took off.
“Honestly, when I read the script, I just thought: This is one of those parts you don't say no to. I grew up doing theatre before I ever stood in front of a camera, so there's a part of me that's always missed it, that feeling of doing the whole thing live, no cuts, no second takes. But I'm not going to pretend a one-woman show isn't terrifying. Ninety minutes, no one else on stage to catch you if you drop something. I've spent the last year on Half Man surrounded by an incredible cast, and this is the complete opposite of that. It's just Alanah and me. What got me was how much of her I recognised. That thing where you're doing everything for everyone else, telling people you're absolutely fine, and quietly falling apart a wee bit in the background. I think every woman I know has been Alanah at some point, including me. And doing it in Scotland, close to my family, on a stage this size... I still can't quite believe it's happening. I'm buzzing.” — Julie Cullen
The play first premièred at Glasgow’s Òran Mór in 2012, where critic Brian Beacom wrote in The Herald that it was “not only the best play to appear at that 200-seater venue this year, but in any Scottish theatre.” It sold out then. Perth Theatre is bringing it home now, reintroducing one of Scottish theatre’s great overlooked gems to a new generation of audiences. On the very stage where its director cut his teeth.
" Over forty years ago I started learning my craft in Perth Theatre. The Artistic Director and the actors taught me the skills. But it really was the audience, the people of Perth, who taught me about the endpoint, which is the way the show happens live. To understand an audience and make a play for them is the single most exciting thing about theatre. That was the lesson I learned, which I have taken with me throughout my career - in Scotland, Ireland, England including the West End, and internationally. To come back to Perth now fills me with both joy and pride. I am proud that I learned my craft in this town and joyful to be directing a really beautiful play about ordinary people for the audience I grew up with. I am thrilled and warmed to be here. " — Patrick Sandford, director
"Alanah was inspired by a number of remarkable people I’ve known throughout my life, who just keep going, keep smiling, keep telling everyone everything’s fine, as their life seems to belong to everyone else but them. Fifteen years after I wrote ‘Remember You Are Beauty Full’, this story feels more relevant now than ever. It’s genuinely my favourite play that I’ve had the privilege of writing and I am just so thrilled it’s finally coming to Perth." — Matthew McVarish, Playwright
