Tally’s Blood

Presented by Cumbernauld Theatre Company, The Gaiety Theatre, Ayr and Perth Theatre
Written by Ann Marie Di Mambro
Directed by Ken Alexander

There is hardly a town or city in Scotland that doesn’t have its own Italian café, chippy or ice-cream parlour. And it’s in one of these much-loved establishments that the story of Tally’s Blood starts…

Lucia can wrap her aunt and uncle around her little finger, cry to order, and she doesn’t like going to school. She likes Hughie though, so much so that they seal their friendship with a secret ceremony in the shop storeroom – aided by an illicit bottle of ‘ginger’.

Auntie Rosinella loves Lucia like all the children she never had, but will anyone – particularly a ‘Scotch’ boy – be good enough for the girl she loves ‘best in the whole wide world’?

As childhood camaraderie blossoms into romance, Lucia and Hughie face more challenges than the fact their countries are taking opposing sides in the Second World War.

Told with heart and humour, Tally’s Blood follows an Italian immigrant family in Scotland, from the 1930s to the 1950s, in a tale of poverty, passion and prejudice that travels from the west of Scotland to the sun-baked Italian countryside.

This new production marks 20 years since Ken Alexander directed the last professional tour of Tally’s Blood in 2003.

Chiara Sparkes as Lucia Ianelli
Craig McLean as Hughie Devlin
Carmen Pieraccini as Rosinella Pedreschi
Andy Clark as Massimo Pedreschi
Dani Heron as Bridget Devlin
Paul J Corrigan as Franco Pedreschi / Luigi Ianelli