Get Up And Tie Your Fingers

Spring 1881 is tipping over into summer and everyone is waiting for the silver darlings, the migrating herring, on which all their livelihoods depend.

Gutting, salting and packing the herring into barrels is women’s work. So, young Molly must learn to tie her fingers if she’s going to join her mother, the obsessive Jean, and their fun-loving neighbour, Janet, as the third member of their gutting crew. But it is another tie, that between a mother and a daughter, that is at the heart of this award-winning play.

Set against the real storm that sent 129 gallant Eyemouth fishermen to a watery grave, this is a deeply affecting tale of three courageous women, reworked to include a vocal soundscape performed by a local women’s choir.

Get Up and Tie Your Fingers is part of Follow the Herring, a unique national touring project that combines theatre and visual arts in an atmospheric and compelling journey down the east coast of the UK