Our work
About Poetic Justice
We’re a Community Interest Company led by four directors, Steven Duffy, Helen Aitken, Neil Smith and Jools Walls. We all live in Ayrshire, and bring a variety of skill sets to the company. Steven is an accomplished actor and director, who has starred in a number of major roles in theatre, film and TV. Helen has a wealth of finance, administration and local knowledge. She has worked worked for a number of charities, including a spell as chair of Scottish Women's Aid. Neil is a journalist and writer who has worked for national and local newspapers. Jools is a theatre and events production manager.
Response to Happy Place. Click to enlarge in overlay.
2018-2020
The company's first project was an original musical play, Happy Place, funded by the National Lottery, performed over several nights in Kilwinning in early 2019 by a talented and enthusiastic group of young people aged from 7 to 14 years old.
The theme of the production was helping young people through mental health issues and the feedback from the audience, parents and funders was entirely positive.
Poe Nights
The company have also performed three 'Poe Nights' in Ayr and Irvine, giving dramatised readings of the author's work as well as a history of the man and his time in Ayrshire. The Ayr performance at Cameron's drew a full house and was the opening event of the 2019 Tamfest- and event to celebrate Burns and Tam o’ Shanter.
The Gift of God PerFormance
The first Irvine performance included an excerpt from an original play developed by the company entitled The Gift Of God, based on records of the 1618 witch trials in Irvine which left four people dead.
Poe in Irvine
Here is a film we have made looking at Edgar Allan Poes early life and his connection with Irvine in Scotland
The Poetic Justice Team
Ravenfest
The Big One
A major focus of our work is honouring the memory of Edgar Allan Poe. We initially planned a festival for 2020 in Irvine, but Ravenfest was sadly cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However in October 2021 we were able to stage Ravenfest21 – albeit on a much smaller scale than originally envisioned.
And thanks to support from our friends at North Ayrshire Council, we were able to stage all the events for free.
The first night, on Friday October 29, saw the Poetic Justice Productions team perform readings of some of Poe's most loved stories and poems, including The Raven, The Black Cat and The Telltale Heart.
There was also a free movie night, a showing of the Pit and the Pendulum, starring Vincent Price and preceded by a talk on Poe's influence on screen horror.
The programme on Saturday, October 30 saw children's activities including mask and lantern making workshops and, in the evening, a spooky and informative tour of Irvine's Old Parish graveyard, where the author spent time copying down inscriptions from tombstones.
We also ran a highly successful short story competition, challenging authors to write 500 words in the style of Poe. More about that and the winning entries can be found elsewhere on our website.
Looking forward to RAVENFEST 2022
For 2022, we hope to stage a festival that will become a legacy event for Irvine, Ayrshire and Scotland, with a more expansive production of all the above, plus music nights, events featuring modern horror and crime authors influenced by Edgar's work.
We have already been in fruitful discussions with the Scottish Maritime Museum about staging a play based on The Masque of the Red Death in their premises as part of a Venetian-style masked ball. And we now have a partnership link with link with the major US Poe Festival in Baltimore, sharing video content and more.
We also hope to debut at least one new play during the 2022 Irvine event. And possibly more... Watch this space.