Many of you will know that there are now three of my award-winning ‘one-woman shows’, The Moira Monologues (2009), More Moira Monologues (2017) and Moira in Lockdown (2022). In 2024 I’m setting off on a tour of Scotland to perform ALL THREE SHOWS IN ONE NIGHT (two intervals included, obviously) for the first time EVER. Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman calls it “an absolute classic of Scottish working-class comedy.” 4**** The Guardian also gave the Trilogy a 4**** star review, commenting that, “The three shows together could have been overwhelming, but instead paint a fuller, funnier picture of this singular character.”

So here’s yer official Moira Trilogy tour 2024:

3rd Feb – Theatre Royal, Dumfries. Tickets available here.

17th Feb – Heritage Centre, Buchanhaven, (nr Peterhead), Aberdeenshire. Tickets available here. (Moira pt.1 only)

18th Feb – Village Hall, Johnshaven, Aberdeenshire. Tickets available here. (Moira pt.1 only)

1st Mar – Eden Court, Inverness. Tickets available here.

2nd Mar – Lyth Arts Centre, Lyth, near Wick. Tickets available here. (Moira pt.2 only)

15th March – The Aurrie, Lower Largo, Fife. Tickets available here. (Moira pts.2 & 3 only)

17th Mar – Websters Theatre, Glasgow. Tickets available here.

30th Mar – Mull Theatre, Mull. Tickets available here.

13th Apr* – Corrie & Sannox Village Hall, Arran. Tickets available here. (Moira pts. 1 & 2 only) *Rescheduled from 6th April

27th Apr – Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling. Tickets available here (Moira pt. 1) and here (Moira pts. 2&3)

11th May – Perth Theatre, Perth. Tickets available here.

24th May – Parish Hall, Alvah, Aberdeenshire. Tickets available here. (Moira pt.3 only)

25th May – Woodside Fountain Centre, Aberdeen. Tickets available here. (Moira pts.1&2 only)

1st June – Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh. Tickets available here.

There may be more dates added in the fullness of time, so keep your eyes peeled. But hopefully see some of you there for this epic undertaking!

Got a handful of Moira shows coming up in the rest of the year, plus I’m promoting my new book Lads: A Guide to Respect and Consent, which you might want a keek at as well. Details below:

CHELTENHAM

Sun 15th Oct – Living Your Best Life, with myself, Natasha Devon and Michelle Elman @ Cheltenham Literary Festival, 2pm. Tickets available here.

EIGG

Thurs 19th Oct – The Moira Monologues 1 @ Eigg Community Hall, Doors 7pm / Show 7.30pm. Tickets available on the night.

SKYE

Tues 14th Nov – The Moira Monologues 1 @ Edinbane Hall, Edinbane, Doors 7pm / Show 7.30pm. Tickets available here.

Wed 15th Nov – The Moira Monologues 2: More Moira @ Las Port Righ, Portree, Doors 7pm / Show 7.30pm. Tickets available here.

Hopefully see you at one of these. Do say hi afterwards!

Ax

Not only was it nice to end the year as no.44 on The List magazine’s rundown of the Hot 100 creative people in Scotland in 2022, but….

Glasgow people… here is what you wanted!

Tickets are now onsale for MOIRA IN LOCKDOWN, my most recent show, playing at Òran Mór on April 2nd as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival. And I’ll be doing a DJ set afterwards if you wanna get your groove on til midnight. Yaaaas!

More dates to be announced in the new year, but Glasgow will be the big wan.

I’m holed up writing stuff, but am venturing out for a few gigs before the end of the year.

For those of you in the Oban area, I will be appearing at the Bookends Festival on Sat 15th October, talking about my novella Lazy Susan. Also, I’ll probably take yous all to the pub afterwards. 7pm at the Victory Hall in Benderloch.

And for you lucky Falkirk peeps you’ll get to see Moira in Lockdown for its first ever performance outside the Edinburgh Fringe, PLUS I’ll be doing a DJ set til the wee hours if you’re wanting a bop afterwards!

2nd Dec, doors at 7.30pm in Behind The Wall, to get your Christmas season started with a bang! Link for tickets here.

Finally, I’ll be doing a table reading of my play from earlier this year, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, about Scotland’s most prominent suffragette, Caroline Phillips. It’s at Aberdeen Central Library on Nov 12th, 2pm. See below for ticket details.

Well! There was me worried about my new Edinburgh Fringe show, Moira in Lockdown, being the disappointing third chapter of what is now the Moira Trilogy. BUT! The reviews for it have come out and, fortunately, they are EXCELLENT! Whoop!

“Moira’s back-to-the-wall willingness to take on all-comers is the constant powerhouse of Alan Bissett’s humour.” – 5***** – Broadway Baby

“Heart-stoppingly funny, and heart-warming, Alan Bissett has created nothing less than an hour of storytelling perfection.” 5***** – The QR

“Hugely entertaining and strangely moving.” 4**** – Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman

“Bissett’s skill as a writer-performer with Moira has always been to take a potentially one-note character and add new dimensions to her, without ever intruding upon his vicious one-liners. For his 2022 show, he excels at Moira’s lived experience universal while keeping her edge.” – 4**** The List

“Keenly felt, dryly observed and hysterically funny.” – 4**** – British Theatre Guide

Well, that’s a relief! Moira in Lockdown is running at the Scottish Storytelling Centre til 23rd August, at 6.30pm. Tickets available here.

She’s back, folks. After the success of the first two episodes of my ‘one-woman show’, The Moira Monologues (2009) its sequel, More Moira Monologues (2017), Falkirk’s hardest woman returns in a brand-new play coming to the Edinburgh Fringe: Moira in Lockdown!

The show runs from 3rd-23rd August (except 11th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 22nd) at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile at 6.30pm (1hr). You can book tickets here.

In this new installment, Moira faces her toughest challenge yet: surviving a pandemic with only vodka, fags and her BFF Babs on Zoom. Take that, Bear Grylls!

Journey through the highs and lows of lockdown with myself, writer-performer Alan Bissett, returning as Moira as she lusts after Joe Wickes, rages at Cummings and grows her own weed (might as well, seeing as the f**kin world’s ending, eh Babs?). She’s ‘the most charismatic character to appear on a Scottish stage in a decade’ ★★★★★ (The Scotsman) and this time she canny even leave the hoose! Directed by Sacha Kyle.

If you want to get up to speed on the Moira story so far, there are a few ways to do so:

The scripts for The Moira Monologues and More Moira Monologues are available to buy in one volume here.

You can watch me performing The Moira Monologues live at Falkirk Town Hall in 2010 here.

You can see both Moira Monologues shows in person in the Hopeville Social Club in Inverurie on Sat July 2nd and in The Three Churches pub in Lochwinnoch on Fri July 22nd (07540420798 to reserve tickets)

“Yaaaaas, Babs! Let’s see how pished we can get afore lunchtime!”

x

Well, it has been a while since my rip-roaring ‘one-woman shows’ The Moira Monologues and its award-winning sequel, More Moira Monologues. Pre-pandemic, in fact. But it’s time to slip back into Moira’s high-heeled boots for some upcoming performances of the hardest woman in Falkirk.

Fri 4th Feb (7.30pm) – Lochwinnoch Golf Club. The Moira Monologues. Tickets here.

Sat 12th Mar (7pm) – Dunoon Burgh Hall. The Moira Monologues + More Moira Monologues + Alan Bissett’s Hoose Perty. So, folks, you’re getting a double bill of BOTH Moira shows PLUS a club night afterwards DJ-ed by me! Tickets here.

Fri 18th Mar (7pm) – Lochwinnoch Golf Club. More Moira Monologues. Tickets here.

See yese there, Babs! x

Happy new year, folks, and welcome to the year we – finally? – see an end to the Pandemic!

I’m still working on my new novel ABOUT WITCHES! But in the meantime, here are some ways you can catch up with what I’m upto early this year:

Fri Jan 14th (9pm) – Alan Bissett’s Hoose Perty. Given Omicron / folk isolating again / nobody going out in January anyway / everybody being skint and a bit down, I thought I’d bring back my Hoose Perty on Zoom for your hip-shaking, foot-tapping enjoyment. For anybody who hasn’t been, the premise is simple:Get a wee bit dressed up, and maybe some disco lights on in your room.Log onto Zoom using the link below.I will play THE BEST upbeat grooves from across the decades and genres – Bowie to Beyonce, Prince to Primal Scream – and then we all just…dance. Zoom link here if you wanna pop in between 9pm-1am: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83193287140

Sat 22nd Jan (11am) – A Hebridean Happening For John McGrath. This is an free online panel discussion of the legacy of John McGrath’s play Random Happenings in the Hebrides, featuring myself and Lewis-based actor John Stahl (Game of Thrones, High Road), Dolina Maclennan (singer, actor, writer, broadcaster and former 7:84 cast member), Scotsman theatre critic Joyce McMillan, and director Laura Cameron-Lewis – as well as recreating a few scenes from the play.

Feb 24th – Bella Caledonia: An Anthology. Some of you more independence-inclined folks out there may recall a poem I wrote (TEN YEARS AGO!!!) which went viral on Youtube, called Vote Britain, in which I rather mocked ‘Our Precious Union’. Well, it is being published by Leamington Books in an anthology of writings from the pro-independence website Bella Caledonia, which also includes work from Irvine Welsh, Alasdair Gray, Kathleen Jamie and Andy Wightman. Well worth a look.

Oh, and there also may be a few guerilla performances of The Moira Monologues, but I will update you once those are confirmed 😉

Happy January…and get your booster!

Right, folks, it’s the big wan: my first book in nearly ten years!!! LAZY SUSAN. Hoooo she’s a riot.

But first, a wee story…I stopped writing novels because a) They take SOOOO LONG and b) I got into theatre. I’ve always wanted to go back to it, but then the kids came along and I thought: how the hell am I gonna manage it now?

Last year, however, Speculative Books published the scripts for my Moira Monologues plays and said, ‘How do you fancy doing a novella with us next year?’

Most publishers don’t like novellas, cos they want to sell full-length novels, but these guys were up for it. Now, I didn’t think I would have a chance of clearing the decks to write a full-length novel, but a novella? Something quick and dirty? Yeah man. Get back in the way of writing prose, remind people (and myself!) that I can still do it.

And here it is. LAZY SUSAN will surprise you. The narrator is a feisty 22 year-old on the party scene, a sort of Scottish, working-class Holly Golightly. You’ll like her a lot. There are also wee narrative treats in store that I’m going to let you discover in the reading of it. But I’m immensely proud of this book and think it stands up there with my best work. We’re not gonna sell it through Amazon – cos fuck Amazon – and you probably won’t see it in too many chain bookstores, cos you wouldn’t believe the size of the cut they take, so the best way to get it is from me (if you want it signed), directly from Speculative Books.

I’ve also had some lovely supporting quotes from other authors:

“Alan Bissett’s return to prose is better than your favourite band’s comeback tour. One of Scotland’s boldest voices reminds us what we’ve been missing. Rarely is a book so worthy of starting all over again as soon as finished.” – Michael Pedersen

“Lazy Susan is a marvellous example of Bissett’s laudable talent in creating witty, human, flawed, and yet thoroughly empathetic characters, whose plights and journeys you are invested in from the first page. Susie’s varied adventures, all of which are worth taking, hit home the impact of the choices we make, as well as those ultimate factors that are outwith our control, no matter what we do. I adored this novella, and find myself wanting to meet Susie again. You will too.” – Jenny Lindsay

“Lazy Susan is one hell of a smart novella, crackling with energy from start to finish. Susan’s character is created so vividly that she may as well be sat beside you, sharing her escapades over a glass of white wine. Alan Bissett’s storytelling is fast-paced and hilarious, peppered with moments of crippling poignancy. What an addictive read.” – Imogen Stirling

“Lazy Susan is Bissett at his best – warm, mischievous and funny as fuck. Spending an evening in the company of Susan is a riotous pleasure. The masterful structure gives you real agency over the course of her rowdy journey – from hotel rooms to fringe shows to a hilarious comedy debut – I chose the destinations but it was Susan that took me for a ride. The perfectly observed speech patterns and dialogue brings to life a character who revels in her own authenticity. Bold, witty and sometimes hilariously unaware; Susan is the sort of one woman party you’d kill for a night out with in the real world.” – Kevin P. Gilday

I really, really want you all to read this book, cos it’s a big statement for me, cos it’s my only creative thing to come out of 2020, and cos you’ll love it, quite frankly. Have fun with LAZY SUSAN, folks!