This is an extraordinary opportunity to view in the poignant setting of Ullapool the Celtic Connections hit show, When Mountains Meet. 

A breath-taking blend of music and storytelling set on a transformed stage that captures all five sense to transport you from the Scottish Highlands to the Himalayas.

When Mountains Meet is a captivating, cross-cultural tale telling the true story of Ullapool-resident and acclaimed musician Anne Wood, as she meets her father, family she had never met and heritage for the first time.

An international cast of storytellers and musicians set forth on an unforgettable voyage from the mountains of Scourie to the Himalayas. 

"My mother is Scottish. My father was Pakistani. In my early twenties I found the father I’d never met … but I was taboo in a culture to which I longed to belong.”

This tender, surprising and heart-opening gig theatre show offers an immersive audience experience - more like attending a wedding than a show - summoning majestic mountains, mesmerising sounds and mouth-watering tastes.

When Mountains Meet explores family relationships, love and nurture, navigating different cultures, language and music to overcome prejudice and conflicting emotions when we yearn to belong. 

"Fascinating...richly enjoyable...tells a very personal story with great skill" Joyce McMillan 

“Easily the best piece of immersive theatre I have seen in years”, Jideofor Muotune, Afrowegian 

“A wonderful and exhilarating performance” Syma Achmed (Glasgow Women’s Library)

Watch the trailer
Stream Anne Wood music

Credits
Produced by The Authentic Artist Collective and KT Producing 

Creative Team 
Composer and Musical Director: 
Scottish violinist Anne Wood (The Raincoats, Katheryn Tickell, Savourna Stevenson, Feis Rois, Deacon Blue, Michael Marra)
Co-directors: 
Kath Burlinson (Mairi Campbell: Pulse and Auld Lang Syne) 
Niloo-Far Khan (Play, Pie, Pint; Grid Iron/EIF; NTS).
Set and costume design: Ali Maclaurin; 
Digital Artist: Aqsa Arif; 
Lighting Designer: Louise Gregory; 
Cultural Consultant: Mashal Peerzada

Performers  
An international cast of storytellers and musicians: 
Mary MacMaster, harp (Sileas, The Poozies, Shine, Songs of Separation), 
Rick Wilson, percussion 
Rakae Jamil, sitar, (Mughal-e-Funk).

Actors: Iman Aktar (The Great Muslim Panto, Play, Pie, Pint), 
Hassan Javed (The Great Muslim Panto)
Jamie Zubari (IN THE WEEDS (Mull Theatre); GUY FAWKES (York Theatre Royal)

• There will be a short pre-performance description of the geological processes that led to the formation of the Scottish Highlands and the Himalayas by the North West Highlands Global Geopark. 

Ticketing information:

• Seating is unreservered, cabaret style.

• Tickets are non-refundable.

THERE IS ALSO A MATINEE PERFORMANCE OF THIS SHOW ON FRIDAY 10TH MAY AT 2PM

Symbiosis and Bluebells

James Merryweather, previously at the University of York’s biology department, takes us on a journey underground to understand a complex, little-known world. Here we find co-operation between plants and fungi - both between each other and within the ecological communities they inhabit. He takes a detailed look at the bluebell's complex below-ground community of root-infesting fungi with which it interacts during its annual cycle, unsuspected and unseen by us macroscopic above-ground animals.

Oysters, seagrass and maerl: hidden treasures of the sea The sea lochs, coasts and open seas of Wester Ross are home to precious remnants of important marine habitats and the plants and creatures that depend on them. Working with the environmental charity Seawilding, Lochbroom resident Ailsa McLellan, a tireless force in community-led marine habitat restoration, explains what oyster restoration is, why seabed mud is vitally important and where to find seagrass. Highlighting some of the hidden gems that live in the marine part of the Wester Ross UNESCO Biosphere Reserve she explains how you can get involved in protecting their future.

Where continents collided: the North-West Highlands UNESCO World Geopark

Looking upon the North-West Highlands is to look at the past, present and future all at once. For Highland residents the familiar peaks and lochs are backdrops to our lives. Geopark manager and Drumbeg resident Fiona Saywell explains what the geopark is achieving and the importance of its UNESCO status while the Geopark’s geologist and co-author of Hutton’s Arse Pete Harrison tells us why the geology is rightly famous and what the latest research tells us about what is beneath our feet and what once was above our heads. You will learn about the processes that built our mountains and the iceage which helped wear them down.

The place where science and folk music intersect is the basis for Tipping Points. During 2022 Luke worked with scientists and social scientists to develop a workshop that explored the interactions between science and society at a local level through folk music-making and storytelling.

This performance includes original compositions for melodeon, guitar and voice which travels from the Neolithic to the present-day taking in the highways, byways and coastlines of the British Isles. Musically the performance draws on English and Scottish traditional music and contemporary folksong.

It is told through the lived experience and stories of farmers and fisherfolk which has evolved to reach locations including Wester-Ross, Oxfordshire and Dartmoor.

• Lucy Beattie grew up in Lochbroom and became a farmer at 21. She has recently completed a PhD exploring science communication and the interaction between research and public engagement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects. She has been a founding force behind Ulluminate as a community science festival.

• Luke Daniels’ accolades include BBC Musician of the Year (BBC Radio 2 Young Tradition Award); PRS for Music Foundation (New Music Bienniel Award) and the Palme d'Or Award for Music. Luke has been touring since the mid 1990s as a session musician with Riverdance, De Dannan and Cara Dillon but since 2012 has released eight critically acclaimed solo albums of his own songs and music. He has performed at The Philadelphia Folk Festival, The LondonJazz Festival and in the Royal Festival Hall as well as many of the UK’s top festivals including Cambridge, FolkEast, Towersey and Celtic Connections and appeared a solo guest on BBCRadio 2’s Folk Programme.

• Andy Neal’s research places organic carbon at the heart of soil. He is working with colleagues to develop a radically different way of thinking about soil. Neal is a regular public speaker; his work has featured on BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science and at New Scientist Live events. In his spare time Andy is a classical double bass player. As well as playing with the Devon Philharmonic and other orchestras he also teams up with a band of Ukuleles in his hometown in a weekly jamming session.

• Melanie Wright works with academics at Rothamsted Research's North Wyke site in Devon to develop closer links with farming and regional stakeholders. She promotes the Institute's research in grassland livestock systems and ensures that the work is in line with the major challenges facing the livestock sector as it strives to intensify sustainably in the face of rising global food demand and climate change.

What is the truth and who holds it?

Local Gaelic primary teacher and university lecturer Lisa MacDonald in a conversation with Lucy Beattie presents the findings of a literature review commissioned by Ulluminate examining the growing awareness in scientific communities of the value of indigenous knowlege. She speaks to the validity of citizen science and the importance of recovering what we once knew and re-cultivating the deep connection and responsibility to place that the Gaelic communities of the Highlands have long known.

“When we used to do things right we never questioned why we did them so. It had to go wrong before we could understand why the old folk’s ways were right. The challenge of today is to become ecologists again, but this time to be so consciously” - Alastair McIntosh, Rekindling Community.

• Special performance of songs of bird migration and behaviour by the Gaelic Community Choir, led by Lisa.

Supported by the New Voices Grant as part of the Highlands and Islands Climate Change Community Researcher Network funded by UKRI and co-delivered by BSA and Science Ceilidh, Lisa has also worked with the Gaelic Community Choir to perform songs demonstrating observations of bird migration and behaviour captured in song.

Access to broadband has become a necessity of everyday life from banking and access to public services to social and travel needs. In 2016, the Lochbroom community, through Ullapool Community Trust, set up their own company to meet their broadband needs when other providers could not meet the challenge of reaching remote and often inaccessible areas.

Today, many residents have access to superfast internet connection speeds thanks to the efforts of Highland Community Broadband, which found ways to connect our communities despite the challenging topography and climate.

Eight years on, the technology landscape is changing rapidly. From mobile phone masts to undersea cables and Elon Musk's Starlink Satellite Internet, Kim Tunsley of SKT Controls and Communications describes these technological challenges and what the road ahead may hold.

Triffids, artificial intelligence, cyber-wars, pandemics, nanobots, space travel, bio-warfare, how to kill someone (and get away with it), apocalyptic futures, species extinctions…Is it getting harder to separate fiction from fact? Were your first impressions of a new technology or concept formed, perhaps unshakably, through fiction? How can novelists help us to process the dramatic scientific changes in our world? Join us for a discussion. Our guests are:

Doug Johnstone Nuclear physicist, arts journalist and author of sixteen best-selling science-fiction and crime novels, Doug’s recent novel The Space Between Us, the climax of which is set unnervingly close to Ullapool Village Hall, brings us in contact with alien beings and explores Scottish societal attitudes in the process. It was selected for BBC Two’s Between the Covers and described by The Guardian as 'An entertaining, fast-paced story of first contact … an emotionally engaging read'. His new novel, The Collapsing Wave continues the gripping adventure in Ullapool, Ardmair and Rhue.

Dr Howie Firth  has a passion for the history and philosophy of science. He was the first Director of the original Edinburgh Science Festival and long-standing Director of Orkney International Science Festival. Laden with stories, Howie will reflect on how we have been learning about science through fiction from early mythology to the present day.

LG Thomson was born in Glasgow, grew up in Cumbernauld, and now lives in Ullapool. Her writing has appeared in a wide range of anthologies and literary publications including Epoch Press, Art North, and the sci-fi Wyldblood Magazine. Her novels include noir thrillerBoyle's Law and dystopian thrillerEach New Morn. Her latest book,Modernist Dreams Brutalist Nightmares, is a searingly honest and brutally funny memoir about being part of the first generation to grow up in Scotland’s most ambitious and experimental New Town. It is her first nonfiction book. The sequel will be published by Outcast Press in 2024.

Ulluminate - Welcome and official launch

Dr Howie Firth, MBE, the first director of the original Edinburgh Science Festival and current director of Orkney Science Festival, helps us to officially launch Ulluminate.