Lanark, 1934. Despite her brutal upbringing, Rebecca McCrea has always believed in doing what’s right. But when the housekeeper of Castlepark is drawn into the bitter conflicts of the Galbraith family, secrets and betrayals force her to make an unthinkable choice.
This is the starting point of ‘The Needle Room’, the third play from award-winning Scots language theatre company Braw Clan. Based in Biggar, the company has won acclaim for touring new work in Scots to village halls across rural Clydesdale.
Following Secret Wrapped in Lead and So Long, Wee Moon, their latest production opens in Carnwath on 17 September before visiting Lanark, Leadhills, Coulter, Crawfordjohn, Symington and Biggar.
Braw Clan premieres ‘The Needle Room’ in Carnwath before Lanark and Clydesdale tour
For playwright Martin Travers, ‘The Needle Room’ has its roots in a building that has loomed large in Lanark’s imagination for over a century: Castlepark, an 1880 villa by architect William Leiper.
“When I first climbed the dark creaking staircase to the sewing room at the top of Castlepark house, the hairs on the back of my neck told me I was entering a place stitched into the past,” Travers says. “A sanctuary for someone who’s hiding from the world. The characters in ‘The Needle Room’ are strong, complicated and driven. I thought that had real dramatic potential.”
It is here that Jessie Galbraith, once a Carnwath seamstress and now a wealthy matriarch, keeps her secrets. Her son Duncan has political ambitions, while Rebecca, the housekeeper caught between them, hides secrets of her own. Against the backdrop of a sweltering 1934 heatwave, their conflicts erupt.
“When I first climbed the dark creaking staircase to the sewing room at the top of Castlepark house, the hairs on the back of my neck told me I was entering a place stitched into the past…”
Martin Travers on ‘The Needle Room’
Martin Travers on the Castlepark sewing room that inspired the play
The Castlepark sewing room — with its pagoda-like profile visible from the street — became a creative spark for Travers. “From the outside, looking over the high stone wall, it looks like a cross between a pagoda and a Swiss chalet. It’s exotic, stylish and strange. I just kept thinking — why is this beautiful piece of architecture here in the middle of Lanark? What’s it for? It had to contain stories and ghosts from a glamorous past.”
Travers channelled those questions into a drama that examines family, class and survival in interwar Scotland. The play is partly inspired by real 1930s newspaper clippings, including one memorable vignette from the Lanark Gazette. “There was a man called Tom Howieson described as a great debater, a bachelor, a woman hater, a great opponent of smoking. He said if the Almighty had meant man to smoke, He would have put a chimney on the top of his head. I used all of this to build the character of Duncan’s grandfather. It was a gift.”
Exploring class, secrecy and women’s lives in 1930s Lanark
While ‘The Needle Room’ is fiction, Travers points to the historical pressures women faced. “The play is about class, and women have always been held back even more by class than men. The only option for a lot of ambitious women was to marry someone from a class above. That’s what Jessie’s done.
“We now live in a world that’s going backwards in a lot of ways. Where hard work and talent aren’t enough any more. Where carving out a good life, a happy life isn’t achievable no matter how hard women try. I hope that will change.”
Director Ros Sydney describes the production as “darkly comic” and full of vivid Scots language. “The three characters are living in a time between two world wars, in a shifting political landscape where tradition clashes with new ideas. But through our modern lens, the obstacles thrown at these characters are all too familiar — obstacles of class, gender, disability and illness, trauma, fear of shame and rejection, and a desperate grappling for power.”
“There was a man called Tom Howieson described as a great debater, a bachelor, a woman hater, a great opponent of smoking. He said if the Almighty had meant man to smoke, He would have put a chimney on the top of his head. I used all of this to build the character of Duncan’s grandfather. It was a gift.”
Scots language theatre at the heart of Braw Clan’s mission
Braw Clan has built its reputation on bringing Scots to the stage, and ‘The Needle Room’ continues that mission. “We’re really interested in how Scots speakers become bilingual in order to survive,” Travers explains. “Scots shouldn’t be something we only haul out on Hogmanay or Burns Night. It’s a caustic, dramatic, precise and at times hilarious language.
“In the case of Duncan, he actively suppresses and sheds Scots in order to pursue his political aspirations. I just knew that ‘The Needle Room’ could allow us to explore these aspects of our language in a dramatic and engaging way.”
Village halls across Clydesdale host ‘The Needle Room’ tour this September
The choice of venues is central to Braw Clan’s ethos. “Braw Clan is a Clydesdale company. We write plays inspired by its rich history, language and landscape. We produce our work here. We stage our work here. Our audiences live here,” says Travers.
The tour begins at Carnwath Town Hall on 17 September, moves to Lanark’s St Nicholas Hall (19–20 September), and then travels to village halls in Leadhills, Coulter, Crawfordjohn and Symington, before closing at Biggar Corn Exchange on 27 September. Each performance is followed by a Q&A with the cast and creative team, and the play is being published by Bloomsbury to coincide with the run.
For actor Fletcher Mathers, who plays Jessie, those settings are part of the thrill. “Before our first night in Leadhills back in 2023, we didn’t know for certain whether a new theatre, in Scots, by a new company, touring to village halls across Clydesdale would work. But the response was incredible. The atmosphere is always electric.”
Humour and dark drama combine in Braw Clan’s latest production
Despite its heavy themes, ‘The Needle Room’ balances intensity with moments of levity. “An average day in anyone’s life is actually a rollercoaster — a bit funny, a bit sad, a bit scary,” Travers says. “That’s what we try to capture but at a heightened theatrical level. The stakes are very high in ‘The Needle Room’. That’s the way we like it, but there are funny moments too.”
It is that combination — of mystery, humour, history and Scots language — that Braw Clan hopes will once again draw rural audiences together. For Travers, the real reward is in those shared moments. “What I hope is that people take from the story something that makes them think or feel — and share that with their neighbours. Life is better when you know your neighbours.”
Featured Image: The Needle Room Cast by Alex Brady
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