Within One Hundred Voices are some of the documented and recorded voices of Care Experienced people that the Caring Scotland team and lead playwright Nicola McCartney collected, as well as the poetry of Kevin P Gilday and the music of Jo Mango, in response to these stories. This, in combination, creates an immersive installation of a series of spaces – some uncannily familiar, others abstracted and surreal – which the audience is led through. Two fictional narrators, Bryan and Kayla, provide an audio guide; sometimes this is reassuring, sometimes this is unnerving, and sometimes it is defiant.
Bryan’s narration is designed to keep the audience on track, to “stick to procedure”. Kayla’s narration comes from the perspective of being Care Experienced. To begin with her voice is heard only when she is permitted, and under struct guidance of what she can share. Sometimes the voices of other Care Experienced people break through; Bryan apologises when this happens and refers to this as a “technical difficulty”, as if these voices might distract from whatever purpose Bryan’s procedure might have – it is unknown to the audience and in this way, mirrors the experience of navigating the care system itself.
Finally, Kayla grows frustrated as the audience loops and loops again in thrall of Bryan’s ‘procedure’, and we are asked to choose a different way. Kayla encourages us to break free of a repetitive cycle of rupture, towards a place of her own where she can be heard.
The experience ends in a place of defiance, resilience, hope for the future but also a call to action, to hold the Scottish Government accountable for keeping “The Promise.”
One Hundred Voices is an engaging experience, a piece of theatre that encourages participation, exploration and a questioning of assumptions. In this way, it feels like an effective way to motivate a general public towards action. What’s also clear is that there are many other stories to be explored. I left the installation wondering about how vast and labyrinthine these stories are, and what it might be like for all these stories to have their own place, to occupy a societal and political space that reflected this vastness.
One Hundred Voices is touring across Scotland between August and October 2026, with locations including Stranraer, Forfar and Glenrothes. The stories recorded through the Caring Scotland project, documenting and recording the lives of Care Experienced people in Scotland, can be accessed through the National Library of Scotland’s website as well as at National Theatre Scotland’s website.
We’re proud to have been a partner in this project alongside the National Theatre of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland, funded with an award from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
