Shôn Dale-Jones

Funny and poignant, The Duke is a one-man show by Shôn Dale-Jones, combining original storytelling with an inventive spirit.

In the autumn of 2015 I sit at my desk waiting for an email that will tell me what I need to do to the script to get it onto the screen. I turn the radio on. I listen to a report about the refugee crisis. My mother calls. She tells me she’s broken The Duke. My mother, my film script and the refugee crisis all need my attention.

The Duke weaves together the tragi-comic fate of a family heirloom (a porcelain figure of The Duke of Wellington), the quandary of a scriptwriter stretching his integrity and an unfolding disaster as thousands of children flee their homes. Blending fantasy and reality, this playful show gently challenges our priorities in a world full of crisis. It won the Scotsman’s Fringe First Award in Edinburgh in 2016.