Meanbh-chuileag ('Midge') is a theatre-in-education project managed by Fèisean nan Gàidheal, the National Association of Gaelic Arts Youth Tuition Festivals.

As the only TIE initiative in Scotland working in both English and Gaelic medium, the company has visited well 200+ primary schools all over the country since its establishment in 2002, as well as schools in Northern Ireland and Eire.  The Midges have visited some of the remotest communities in the UK, including Muck, Rum, Eigg and Canna, Colonsay, Jura and the Knoydart peninsula.  Orkney, however, may offer Meanbh-Chuileag's furthest-flung destination to date - the island of Papa Westray, off nearby Westray.  The two-minute connecting flight between the two is officially the shortest scheduled flight in the world.

Meanbh-chuileag is touring Orkney with 'The Seal Wife', a play based on a North Uist version of the traditional story of the young man who marries a seal-maiden after he has stolen her skin, without which she cannot return to the sea.  Meanbh-Chuileag's production utilises the themes of the story to create a dialogue between characters and audience on issues of personal responsibility and freedom.  The focus is on Codrum, the seal-wife's son, and his dilemma offers a ready way into the story for children.

Codrum gives the Uist version of the story its title, 'MacCodruim nan Ròn', or 'the Son of Codrum of the Seals'.  The clan MacCodrum in Uist claim descent from Codrum and therefore, in turn, from the selkie-folk.  The story is not confined to the Hebrides, however, but is found in variant versions in coastal regions from Scandinavia to Ireland, with Orcadian versions especially well-known through the writing of George MacKay Brown and others.  The pattern of distribution of the story may offer a glimpse of the links between Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia's seaboards during the Viking period.

Meanbh-Chuileag's tour will give children in Orkney schools an opportunity to hear spoken Scottish Gaelic, Highland bagpiping and Gaelic song, and to compare West Highland and Hebridean traditions with their own Orcadian heritage.

The tour schedule for Orkney is as follows:

Monday 8th November
Stromness Primary School @ 2.15pm

Tuesday 9th November
Burray Primary School @ 10.00am
Hope Primary School @ 2pm

Wednesday 10th November
Firth Prmary School, Finstown @ 9.30am
Rousay Primary School (island school) @ 1.45pm

Thursday 11th November
Papa Westray Primary School (island school) @ 10am approx

Friday 12th November
Glaitness Primary School, Kirkwall @ 9.45 am
unconfirmed Shapinsay (island school) @ 1.45pm approx

Further information from meanbh-chuileag@feisean.org or on 0790 000 1117 (Douglas Beck)