Locally penned play The Red Ball to be performed at Universal Hall will focus on Findhorn's eco-village community
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A NEW production by a local playwright is celebrating 60 years of the Findhorn eco-village’s community on Saturday, February 12.
And theatre director and drama coach, Laura Pasetti, is inviting the wider community to see ‘The Red Ball’, to learn more about the spiritual community at the edge of the village founded by Dorothy Maclean, Peter and Eileen Caddy in 1962.
Laura said: “If you think that communities are potentially harmful, come see the play. If you are sceptical about communities, come see the play. If you are wondering where humanity is going with the increases in separation, isolation, and lack of trust ... come see the play!”
After training professional actors at the Piccolo Teatro of Milan National Theatre in Italy, Laura moved to Scotland and founded Charioteer Theatre in Forres in 2005, an international theatre company focused on productions for teenagers.
In the last few years, she has been using the performing arts to try to help people reconnect with nature.
Laura also provides courses with emphasis on work with teenagers and those aged over 65.
She is also a ‘resource person’ (representative abroad) for the Findhorn Foundation and has completed several of their courses.
She said: “The Foundation is a training and educational centre. The community that grows around it is made up of people who share the same principles and beliefs. However, they are not necessarily part of the organisation.
“My connection is one of deep gratitude. I learnt an awful lot over years, volunteering or participating on programmes. I am an active member of the eco-village, contributing to the promotion of the arts as a medium to inspire engagement, inclusion and integration.”
Laura has devised eco-play The Red Ball with the help of 12 performers aged between 10 and 80-years-old. It offers a take on life in communities - both challenges and good aspects too.
Laura said: “The play comes as a result of training and improvisations explored during a course I ran. We rehearsed it in November with participants from Forres, Kinloss and Findhorn. The majority of them have been part of my theatre company for quite a while and have performed together several times.”
“The Red Ball is about a community but speaks to every community. Life in communities can be challenging: imagine having your entire family staying with you over Christmas ... but Christmas never ends!
“Families argue and criticise each other. A family member might feel misunderstood or find it difficult to speak the truth.
“But the experience of families, or - as in this case - extended families, is an amazing way to learn the meaning of relationships, the value of friendship and the importance of being less egocentric and more ecocentric.
“Every community is an ecosystem that functions because of the contribution of everyone in it. Everyone is responsible, everyone counts and is essential.
“But can we really live in communities? Are they the response for a healthier life style? This is what the play is about.”
The Red Ball is being performed at Universall Hall on Saturday, February 12 at 3.30pm. It is not suitable for children under 9-years-old.
Tickets are available at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-red-ball-tickets-249267254067
