Liam Rees’ Land That Never Was in Edinburgh & Glasgow

This March, Edinburgh’s Studio at Festival Theatre and Glasgow’s Tron Theatre host The Land That Never Was, a new work from Scottish theatre-maker Liam Rees. It runs Friday 14th March at 7:30pm in Edinburgh and Friday 21st to Saturday 22nd March at 7:45pm in Glasgow, a UK premiere following a stint at Dublin’s Scene + Heard Festival in February 2025. Developed with Vanishing Point, Capital Theatres, Summerhall, and National Theatre of Scotland, this 60-minute piece blends theatre, storytelling, and confessional stand-up, landing after previews at London’s VAULT Festival and Camden People’s Theatre in 2024.

“I came across Gregor’s scam during lockdown so the dream of fleeing to some tropical paradise was all too real,” Rees says, introducing Gregor MacGregor, a Stirlingshire figure who, in 1820, invented Poyais—a fictional land complete with a parliament, honours system, and coat of arms. He convinced two boatloads of Scots to sail to their doom, chasing a prince’s promise. Rees, an Edinburgh native, threads this historical con into his own tales as a tour guide spinning yarns for tourists in 2025.

From Lockdown Spark to Stage Experiment

“I couldn’t stop thinking about it which obviously meant it had to be the subject of a new play,” Rees recalls of MacGregor’s audacious lie that snared hopeful emigrants. “I couldn’t believe he had the audacity to just make up a country,” he adds, a fascination born in lockdown’s escapist haze.

“I tried to write a traditional historical play about it which was a total disaster,” he admits, but telling friends shifted his lens. “I told more and more friends about Gregor (many of whom couldn’t believe that his story was true) I discovered that how the story was told was as important as the story itself.”

“When I first tested out this show an audience member said the play is basically a magic trick…Even when I tell you what trick I’m using to manipulate you, the trick still works.”

That led to a hybrid form: “When I first tested out this show an audience member said the play is basically a magic trick,” Rees explains. “Even when I tell you what trick I’m using to manipulate you, the trick still works.” He’s clear on its heart: “In a way the play is all about the audience and what they choose to believe.” With a slideshow fact-checking his every word, “It’s their willingness to suspend their disbelief and go along with Gregor’s story that makes theatre come alive,” he says, looking to draw spectators into his game with every word.

***Liam in action on a Scratch Night performance of the show.***

Lies, Belief, and a Tour Guide’s Mirror

“I became fascinated by how and why we believe one thing or another which led to me playing with different kinds of storytelling and personas, and how they can be used to manipulate an audience,” Rees says, linking MacGregor’s con to his own past. “I can’t stand the romanticised, Walter Scott shortbread tin version of Scotland that gets peddled to tourists,” he confesses.

“It’s so obviously fake and untethered from reality but this frustration drew me into Gregor’s story even more because he pulled the same trick on Scottish people who thought they’d become emperors of some tropical paradise and ended up in a mosquito-ridden hellhole,” he continues. He adds a modern lens: “I came across Gregor and immediately thought of charlatans like Trump, Johnson, Farage, and Musk.”

Yet, he ponders MacGregor’s mind: “Gregor MacGregor was probably a total opportunist. At least, that’s what the expert consensus is. But I found myself wondering ‘What if he believed he was really going to start a new country? If we could start again and design a country from scratch, what would it look like?’” He adds, “I have no way of knowing what Gregor truly believed but I like to believe that this new country could have been possible (and maybe it still is?).”

A Provocateur’s Craft

“A friend called it ‘a headfuck but funny’ which is exactly what I was going for!” Rees laughs, aiming to “provoke the audience and comedy is a great way to mess with people’s heads.” He wants them to question: “I always want to provoke the audience and comedy is a great way to do that.”

With audience interplay at 12+, “It’s rare to feel like a real collaborator in a piece of theatre as an audience,” he says, noting the live edge his slideshow brings to every show. “After graduating I moved to Belgium which honestly changed my whole outlook on what theatre can be,” Rees reflects.

“They don’t have the same reverence for writers and text that we do in the English-speaking world so there’s much more focus on devised theatre, playing around with form, and sparking a direct relationship with the audience,” he continues. At BRONKS, he learned, “Don’t be boring. You can make a conventional play or be totally experimental but if it’s boring the kids will let you know all about it!” That ethos shapes this work’s restless spirit.

A Scotsman’s Stage and Beyond

From stints with Traverse Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland, and A Play, A Pie and A Pint, to gigs at HOME Manchester and Belgium’s BRONKS, Rees now eyes Dublin’s Dead Centre and the Young Vic. “I’ve been invited to work with the Young Vic on a new project that experiments with using phones in theatre as a storytelling device,” he shares.

“My last show The Enlightened used a mix of Zoom and a WhatsApp group to tell a story that happened simultaneously in the UK and India, so I’m excited to keep experimenting with these technologies” he adds. He’s also “developing a new show all about the fall of the Roman Empire, police, protest, and propaganda with support from Dead Centre and theatres in Italy and Luxembourg.”

“The stories we tell matter. Every crisis we’re facing from climate change to the economy to whatever is in fashion by the time this goes to print is a crisis of imagination. We’ve been continuously told that there can be no alternative to the way things are which is blatantly not true.”

“Who knows what it will finally look like but fingers crossed it’ll have a life in Scotland once it’s created!” he says of his next steps. For now, his attention is squarely on telling tales at The Studio and Glasgow’s Tron.

“The stories we tell matter,” Rees insists. “Every crisis we’re facing from climate change to the economy to whatever is in fashion by the time this goes to print is a crisis of imagination. We’ve been continuously told that there can be no alternative to the way things are which is blatantly not true. Storytelling is where we can imagine worlds that don’t exist yet but they could. Did you know the idea for mobile phones was inspired by Star Trek? When we tell stories and imagine new ways of being it makes it easier for everyone else to turn that idea into a reality.”

A Stage for Questions

“There are definitely some surprises but you’ll have to buy a ticket to find out what they are,” Rees grins, setting up this Edinburgh and Glasgow run after Dublin. “Trust me. I’d never lie to you, would I?”

Featured Image: The Land That Never Was_Liam Rees_Credit Mihaela Bodlovic