Caught in the net ...

The death of her fisherman dad, when she was a child living in the fishing village of Burghead, inspired the playwright and actress to write a play about the industry and the dangers men face just to make a living.

It took a year of research, but once her epic tale, Lost at Sea, was finished, Morna knew there was another tale to tell.

Netting, which is touring to Stirling’s Macrobert Arts Centre, is the story of three women whose loved ones are drowned at sea.

“I spent a year researching and interviewing fishermen and their families for Lost at Sea. But there was an idea that I kept coming back to for a sister play – it was the story of these three women and their relationship.

“It’s set three months after a fishing accident, at a moment in time when the phone has stopped ringing, after the initial grieving stage, when somehow life has to go on.

“It’s really about how they navigate their way to some kind of closure.”

Said Morna: “For me it was very much a chance to explore their relationships and the threads that bind them together.”

“As soon as I started to write it, I immediately heard their voices, particularly Kitty, the matriarch in the play.

“I pictured Carol Anne Crawford in the role and it’s amazing that she is now playing the character.”

Morna is also joining the cast, along with Sarah McCardie, for this production.

It is written in Doric, something she says wasn’t a deliberate choice. It was more that was the characters’ voices,” she said. “I definitely took inspiration from the women I grew up with.”

It’s been a long journey since 2011 when she began her tribute to her father, but with Lost at Sea now in pre-production at Eden Court Theatre and Netting touring, it’s all falling into place.

Netting is at Macrobert on Wednesday, March 23. Visit macrobert.org or call 01786 466666.