The brave decision to lift the lid off a well-kept family secret paid off for Matthew Zajac, whose play The Tailor of Inverness continues to enjoy worldwide acclaim. Susan Welsh chats to the remarkable performer and author about its continuing success and the emotional journey on which it has taken him
Writing about your own father can be a very personal and private affair. But when Matthew Zajac wrote about his father’s life, it seemed the whole world wanted to know more.
Matthew, from Inverness, put pen to paper and wrote The Tailor of Inverness, a fascinating and gripping story inspired by the life of his own father, Mateusz, who, thanks to the dogs of war, was forced to leave the farm he grew up on in Galicia (Eastern Poland, now Western Ukraine) and ended up becoming a well-known tailor in the Highland capital.
His is a story of how a life and an identity can be reconstructed. The forced migration journey Mateusz took was similar to those made by
thousands of Poles during World War II. Before settling in Scotland, he travelled and fought throughout Europe, the Soviet Union, the Middle East and England. In the Highlands, he became a new man and integrated himself into the Highland way of life, earning a reputation as a first-class tailor who made clothes for thousands of people, including Matthew, who still wears suits his father made.
He was a wonderful dad to Matthew and his sister and, after he died, Matthew set out to find out more about his father’s life before arriving here. He quickly learned that the story he’d been told was not as straightforward as it seemed. He grew up believing his father, having been in the Polish Army, was taken prisoner by the Soviets in World War II, put into forced labour then freed to fight for the British Army.
But as he unravelled the threads of his life, he found an entirely different tale – his father had actually fought for the Russians and then the Germans. Matthew plays himself and his father in the play, switching quickly between the two men and visiting different times of their lives. Through a clever set and using music, poetry, storytelling and moving and still video projections, he quickly transports the audience to the dark forests of Poland, to harsh prison camps and even harsher train journeys across Europe, to the cool calm of his tailor’s shop in Inverness.
The play is extraordinarily gripping and moving and it seems Highlanders, along with communities across the world, can’t get enough of Dogstar Theatre Company’s play, which has picked up numerous awards and was an instant success from its opening-night performance at Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms in 2008.
“The success of the play has been phenomenal; it has done far better than I could ever have dreamed,” said Matthew.
“We have visited 10 countries with it and will celebrate its 250th performance while it tours England, which it visits for the first time on this seven-week tour.”
Asked why he thought the play was so successful, Matthew joked that it was all down to his utter brilliance and modesty, before saying: “It kind of manages to tell quite a complex story and shows what can happen to an ordinary individual during a war situation. It seems to be quite accessible, despite the fact that it’s a quite demanding show, as there’s a lot of information people have to take in, and it is emotionally demanding in many ways.”
While it may put a demand on the audience, performing it each time also impacts on Matthew.
“Each performance is draining, but never quite as the first time I did the play, which was quite a difficult thing to do. There’s a consistently exhausting aspect to the show and it’s hard for me to say what the personal impact has been, apart from it keeping me quite fit.
“In a way, it is something of a mystery to me as to how I keep managing to do it, because it’s also a harrowing experience for me, up to a point, but then there’s a professionalism which kicks in which prevents me from making it a completely self-indulgent experience.
“The audience is what keeps me doing the show, because the responses are very consistent and always very concentrated. It’s rare for me to detect distraction at all or lack of interest and the audiences have just been incredibly enthusiastic.”
The new tour got under way at Durness Village Hall on February 1. Over the next few days, it visits several Highland and north-east locations (full details below) and will feature haunting music performed by Jonny Hardie playing violin at all the Scottish performances. Given its previous success, demand to see the play is high, which is good news for Dogstar, which experienced mixed fortunes last year.
Joint artistic director and founder Hamish MacDonald resigned from the company due to funding setbacks and this meant no new production was possible during last year. Matthew resolved to remain in position in the hope that future funding would be forthcoming and the good news is that a new project grant has been awarded by Creative Scotland for Dogstar to co-produce Mungo Park – Travels in the Interior of Africa, by Martin Lyngbo and Thor Bjorn Krebs.
The play tells the extraordinary story of the Scottish doctor who charted large parts of the River Niger during two expeditions, in 1795 and 1805. the second of which ended in death. A combined Danish/Scottish cast will present an irreverent tragicomic adventure for audiences in Scotland and Scandinavia.
Matthew is also developing a new idea for a comedy show relating to global warming and climate change, which demonstrates again that he’s not afraid to tackle controversial subjects. Factor 9, for example, told of the real-life scandal and horror story of contaminated blood transfusions which allowed HIV, Hepatitis C and CJD to be spread to those whose lives depended on transfusions.
“To me, that’s an essential part of what theatre is about. It’s showing ourselves to ourselves; it’s about examining aspects of human behaviour, politics and street philosophy, all of which are parts of human behaviour,” said Matthew.
“As for Factor 9, I’m delighted that the very active campaigners have used the play to highlight their story. A number of politicians came to see the play and we performed an extract of it to the health committee in the Scottish Parliament. Sadly, the Penrose Inquiry was disappointing for some of the victims and their families. But that said, there is a process going on right now with the Scottish Government which should end by April and which will provide a much better settlement for victims and their families. We can’t take any credit for what will be achieved, as all we do is help highlight the case of people like Bruce Norval. It’s people like him who really deserve the plaudits.”
It’s proof, if proof were required, that Matthew Zajac is a remarkable man and that Dogstar Theatre Company fully deserves to be supported by the public.
The Tailor of Inverness can be seen at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, tomorrow, Friday, February 12, and on Saturday, February 13 (01463 234234). Thereafter, it is at Portsoy Town Hall on February 16, Crathes Village Hall on February 17, Kemnay Village Hall on February 18, New Pitsligo Village Hall on February 19 and Lumsden Village Hall on Saturday, February 20. For full details of these shows visit www.neatshows.org.uk