Panic Patterns

Panic Patterns is one of the highlighted UK grown shows, commissioned especially by Glasgay! to award winning novelists Louise Welsh and Zoe Strachan and directed by Alison Peebles. It follows ornithologists Jacq and Fay as they study bird migration patterns in remote Scotland; Fay is sure the changes signify an impending disaster while Jacq is concerned that the seclusion of the island has made her lover paranoid.

Earlier work from Welsh has delved into the darker corners of human behaviour: previous commissions for Glasgay! have included an investigation into the murder of Shakespeare's contemporary Marlowe and a study of captivity and longing – featuring Tam Dean Burn as a genuinely sinister lover. Since she became known as a hard edged novelist, it is unsurprising that her plays have been heavy with bleak poetic imagery.

Panic Patterns is billed as an “edgy, suspenseful drama for a new decade” aimed to disorientate whilst remaining tender throughout. With insecurity building, the suspenseful nature of the piece fits well with the style of Welsh and Strachan: Welsh notable with her success in the literary crime genre with The Cutting Room, and Strachan with an accomplishment for detail within Negative Space. Glasgay!’s producer Steven Thomson need not panic; this show looks set to continue in the success of years gone by.