"Bidh mi uaireannan a’ smaoineachadh air cò ris a bhiodh e coltach, mura biodh duine eile beò aig an robh an cànan ach mi fhìn.
Cha toireadh tu gàire air duine eile, cha thuigeadh iad na ròlaistean agad. Cha thuigeadh duine beò aon dùird de na bha thu ag ràdh."

Tha Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba a’ toirt thugaibh Car a’ Mhuiltein | Somersaults, film ghoirid ùr Ghàidhlig leis an dràmadair Ghàidhlig Iain Fionnlagh MacLeòid.

Tha ceistean mu dhearbh-aithne, buntainneas agus faireachdainn de fèin-aithne, uile-choitcheann ge ’r bith dè an cànan a labhras tu. Tha ar cànan màthaireil gar ceangal ris an àm a dh’fhalbh, tha e gar ceangal ri ar teaghlaichean, tha e mar mhac-talla mu thimcheall nan togalaichean sa bheil sinn a’ còmhnaidh agus air fhighe a-steach do ar dearbh-aithne. Ach dè thachras ma dh’fhalbhas an ceangal?

Air a thogail air Eilean Leòdhais agus a’ nochdadh dhealbhan tasglainn is dealbhan dachaigh teaghlaich, tha an obair-ealain ùr dhidseatach fhìor phearsanta seo air a brosnachadh leis an riochdachadh stèidse 2011 aig Iain Fionnlagh MacLeòid do Theatar Nàiseanta na h-Alba. Is e rannsachadh bàrdachdail air cànan a th’ ann an Car a’ Mhuiltein | Somersaults agus mar a tha e a’ dearbhadh cò sinn.

“I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be the last speaker of a language.

All your jokes would be private jokes. All your secrets would go to the grave with you.”

National Theatre of Scotland presents Car a’ Mhuiltein | Somersaults a new Gaelic short film by Gaelic playwright Iain Finlay Macleod.

Questions of identity, belonging and a sense of self are universal, no matter what language you speak. Our mother tongue links us to our past, it connects us to our families, it echoes around the buildings we inhabit, and it is interwoven into our identities. But what happens if that link disappears?

Shot on the Isle of Lewis and featuring archive footage and family home movies, this new deeply personal digital artwork is inspired by Iain Finlay Macleod's 2011 stage production for the National Theatre of Scotland. Car a’ Mhuiltein | Somersaults is a poetic exploration of language and how it defines who we are.