Wee stages of evolution

IT MAY BE TIME FOR WEE STORIES theatre company to change their name. With their latest piece, One Giant Leap, a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS), they are taking on the biggest story of all, the origins of life, the universe and everything.

When I arrive at the company's rehearsal room in Edinburgh's King's Theatre, where they are preparing for their extensive tour of Scotland, I find Wee Stories founders Andy Cannon and Iain Johnstone positively buzzing with ideas. "We wanted to do a show about wonder," Cannon says. "I think it goes back earlier than that," Johnstone interjects, "it was when we were in the pub. We were trying to make the connection between things you feel strongly about, and rant in the pub about, and putting work on stage for a multi-generational audience."

The particular thing that Cannon, Johnstone and their fellow Wee Stories member David Trouton are feeling strongly about is creationism, increasingly referred to by some people as "intelligent design". As atheists they are strongly opposed to the idea that the notion of a God-created universe should be taught in schools as if it was just as valid as the sciences of evolution and astronomy.

"We found that we were spending a lot of time talking about these issues," says Johnstone, "and we felt we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't put that into a piece of work. Having just put a child through primary education, I feel very strongly that he should not have had to put up with the religious stuff he got in school, in our supposedly secular education system."

As one might expect of arguably Scotland's leading theatre company for children and families, thoughts turned quickly from their concerns about the rise of creationism in some quarters, to how to make evolution and science accessible and entertaining in the theatre. "With this subject, it would be really easy for the show to become very polemical," Johnstone observes.

"That's OK if you're playing to a chatterati audience at the Traverse during the Edinburgh Festival. However, we're playing to audiences across the age ranges and geographically all over the place. We can't preach to the converted," he says, with intended irony.

They think they've found the perfect device for making their big story both informative and fun. Although the show's journey will see us meet important figures, such as Copernicus and Galileo, don't expect the Wee Stories guys to be diving into the costume box and coming out dressed as a 17th-century physicist. The central character of One Giant Leap is a contemporary man, approaching his 50th birthday, who is going through "not a mid-life crisis", Johnstone explains, "but a mid-life Renaissance".

The man has, somewhat belatedly, discovered the big picture about the origins of our universe and has become, says Johnstone (again, with knowing irony) "evangelical" about it. "He's the guy who's booked the hall, hired the lights and driven round the country to share his new knowledge with people."

"I think it's going to be really entertaining," adds Cannon. "He's nearly 50. That fits with our desire to be both a child-friendly company and a company which makes work for a multi-generational audience, because 50 is an age which a lot of (the younger audience's] fathers are going to be quite soon, or their grandfathers have just been. So, there'll be an identification across the generations, it's a ten-to-adult show."

Anyone who has seen previous Wee Stories shows, such as the award-winning Arthur: The Story of a King or Is This a Dagger?, Cannon's one-man exploration of Macbeth, will be able to imagine the company using a wide-eyed 49-year-old to tell the story of the universe, from Big Bang to the Apollo space mission. The company, whose previous production, The Emperor's New Kilt (another co-production with the NTS) played to packed houses throughout both Scotland and England, are, first-and-foremost, entertainers.

"We're not doing 'Wee Stories explain science to children'", Cannon says. "Hopefully we'll turn people on to science, and they'll then desperately try to find the books, or the videos, or whatever it is we've been referring to."

The most important book in the development of the show is Ludovic Kennedy's All in the Mind: A Farewell to God. "In terms of the contemplation of the cosmos, who we are, what it's all about, Kennedy's book really affected us," says Cannon. "Having read all the big books of the moment on this subject, by the likes of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, and much as I enjoyed them, I still come back again and again to Kennedy's book nearly ten years after it was first published."

Kennedy might be surprised to learn that he is the inspiration for a piece of family theatre, but such unexpected origins are typical of Wee Stories. They are also typical, say Cannon and Johnstone, of the National Theatre of Scotland.

The Wee Stories team are full of praise for the NTS, and, artistic director Vicky Featherstone and executive producer Neil Murray in particular. "The wonderful thing about NTS is that they absolutely recognise that this show is a totally different animal from The Emperor's New Kilt," says Johnstone.

"The great thing about Vicky and Neil is that you get the impression that, if we weren't sticking our necks out and trying to do something different with Wee Stories, they wouldn't be interested," says Cannon.

Wee Stories are delighted that the NTS are assisting them in creating a show which is taking on such challenging subject matter. Although they don't anticipate any controversy, they are aware that some people might take exception to their championing of science and evolution.

The key to dealing with any objections, says Johnstone, is to "stand by the facts". By the time it reaches the stage, he believes, the show will be pretty much immune to accusations that it is too tendentious. "If any angry people phone the office – not that I think they will, but if they were to – we will be able to say, 'Well, actually, that is a matter of fact.'"

As they pull the many strands of their show together, Wee Stories have bigger concerns than potentially irate audience members. Like their other shows, One Giant Leap is intended to be enjoyed by adults as much as by children, and yet Wee Stories continue to be perceived by many people as a "children's theatre company".

"It's a long struggle", says Cannon, "because marketing departments don't have a box which is marked 'everyone'."

• One Giant Leap opens at Scalloway Hall, Shetland on 1 September, and tours throughout Scotland until 11 October. See www.nationaltheatrescotland.com for full list of dates.