Almost all of David Greig’s work, on some level, has a connection to his homeland of Scotland, and the Scottish presence in his work has only intensified in recent years, from the scholars of Scottish folk music in The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart to the English soldiers occupying Scotland after the fall of Macbeth in Dunsinane. With Yellow Moon, audiences are taken on a whirlwind adventure from a small village near the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh all the way into the rugged mountainous landscape of the Scottish Highlands.
Humans have inhabited the northern third of the isle of Britain since around 9000 B.C., surviving the invasion of the Romans and eventually uniting around 900 A.D. into the Kingdom of Alba. Centuries of fighting to maintain their independence from England came to an end in 1603 when James VI of Scotland inherited the throne of England to become James I. A succession of joint monarchs from the House of Stuart then led to the Act of Union in 1707 that formally united the two states into the Kingdom of Great Britain. However, a history of separate legal, educational and religious institutions have helped Scotland maintain a distinct culture and identity. Recently, Scotland has been pursuing a policy of devolution, with the return of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 and a referendum on independence scheduled to be held in 2014.
Inverkeithing (pop. 5,265), where Yellow Moon begins, is located across the Firth of Forth (where the River Forth flows into the North Sea) from Edinburgh, the Scottish capital city. A port town established in the 12th century, Inverkeithing became famous for shipbreaking (the dismantling of naval vessels). The railway from Edinburgh runs through the town on its way north to the northeastern coastal cities and the Scottish Highlands.
The Highlands is a geographic and cultural region of northwest Scotland. The terrain is the most mountainous in the entire British Isles, with peaks reaching heights of 4,400 feet. Lochs lie in the valleys between the rock faces, carved into the landscape by the last receding glaciers. The Highlands are one of the least populated areas in Europe, with Inverness (pop. ~59,000) being the only major city in the region. Tourism remains a large component of the Highland economy as people continue to visit to witness the rugged and breathtaking scenery.
One of the most popular tourist activities is the traditional sport of deer stalking. Sporting estates in the Highlands host hunters all through the stalking season and charge up to £500 to stalk a red deer stag. The Scottish National Heritage organization estimates that deer stalking generates £105 million a year for the UK economy; £70.4 million of that total stays in Scotland and the industry supports an estimated 2,500 jobs. Stags are hunted from July through October and female hinds are hunted from October to February. A gamekeeper typically lives on the estate at all times to take care of the property and continues to cull any deer during the off-season that are injured or a threat to farmlands and woodlands.
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