William Hershaw has just published some plays which will interest those with a language and literary interest generally. Hershaw, who is a teacher at Beath, in Fife, is well known as a poet, writer and musician in Scots, and has recently completed a new play called ‘Michael: A Ballad Play in Scots’. This tells the story of Michael Scot of Balwearie who lived around the year 1200 and is said to have studied at Oxford, Paris and Padua. He translated the works of Aristotle and was a general philosopher, alchemist and reputed wizard. Hershaw’s play in Scots brings together history and myth and deals with universal subjects such as free will, science, religion, and the meaning of life.

In addition, Hershaw has also produced a version in Scots of ‘The Tempest’, by William Shakespeare, which is set in Scotland during “...the regency period...” and makes Prospero the earl of Fife. At the heart of the story is the struggle for power between the great nobles and their endless scheming, set in a Scottish and northern context. The play is recommended as suitable for classroom work at Higher and National 5 levels. Included along with ‘The Tempest’ is another play by Hershaw called ‘The Voices o the Abbey Waas’ which is set in a haunted Dunfermline Abbey where he brings together in the afterlife Andrew Carnegie, a miner from Valleyfield, and the master poet Robert Henryson.

The play ‘Michael’ (ISBN 978-1-907676-76-5) is 124pp and priced £10, while ‘The Tempest’ and ‘The Voices o the Abbey Waas’ (ISBN 978-1-907676-75-8) is 164pp and also priced £10. These are published by Grace Note Publications who may be contacted on 01764 555 979 or by e-mail books@gracenotereading.co.uk .