‘You cannot find yourself in two strangers who happen to share your genes. You’re made already ... from a mixture of myth and gene. You are part fable, part porridge.’

Are we as shaped by the folksongs we hear as we are by the cells in our bodies?

Red Dust Road is adapted from the soul-searching memoir by Jackie Kay, poet, playwright, novelist and Scottish Makar. It’s a journey full of heart, humour and profound emotion, exploring race, identity and family secrets, with a deeply human curiosity and compassion.

Born in Edinburgh, Jackie Kay grew up in Glasgow in the 1970s as the adopted, mixed-race child of lifelong committed communists. As a child, while watching cowboys and Indians on TV, Jackie noticed her skin was a different colour to her mother’s. In searching for answers to what makes her — nature or nurture — she decided to find her birth parents.

Travelling from Scotland to Nigeria, Red Dust Road chronicles Jackie’s 20-year search for her biological mother and father and her quest for them to recognise her own existence.

Red Dust Road is adapted for the stage by Tanika Gupta, winner of last year’s James Tait Black Prize for her drama Lions and Tigers. Completing the creative trio is Dawn Walton, director of the acclaimed salt. by Selina Thompson.

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