Precious Cargo

As young children they were evacuated from a war zone. Fifty years on, Barton and Andy are still trying to find out who they are…

Developed on the Isle of Lewis, Precious Cargo is a powerful and timely new theatre show about the life-long impact of the Vietnam war, by Australian writer-performer Barton Williams and Hebridean composer Andy Yearley. The show draws on Barton and Andy’s own life experiences as Vietnam war adoptees, plus interviews with four other adoptees who grew up across the world after being airlifted out of Vietnam in 1975 as babies. It is a story about the chaos of conflict, childhood trauma, racism, and a generation running out of time to find lost families.

Precious Cargo is produced by sruth-mara, the Uig-based arts company behind Move-Gluasad, Soil & Soul and Oir Nan Speur | The Edge of the Sky, and directed by Laura Cameron-Lewis. It is being staged for the first time at An Lanntair before a three-week run at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.

The performance at An Lanntair will include a post-show Q&A with the creative team. It will also feature British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation by Sabine Zielinska.

Performed by Barton Williams Music by Andy Yearley Directed by Laura Cameron-Lewis Produced by Andrew Eaton-Lewis Visual & sound design by Robbie Thomson

A sruth-mara production in association with An Lanntair, supported by Creative Scotland and Mark Barbeliuk.