Dornoch residents will be interested in a unique outdoor performance that is taking place in the town later today.
Descendants of distinguished lawyer and politician, the late David Maxwell Fyfe, whose mother came from Dornoch, will be performing an informal ‘song cycle’ on the green outside Dornoch Cathedral at around 12.30pm.
Maxwell Fyfe, who was born in 1900 and died in 1967, was one of the prosecuting counsels at the Nuremberg Trials and subsequently played a role in drafting the European Convention on Human Rights.
His mother was Isabella Campbell, daughter of David Campbell of Dornoch. The family lived in Edinburgh but were frequent visitors to Dornoch.
Maxwell Fyfe was made a Freeman of Dornoch in 1962 and is remembered as part of an exhibition at the town’s Historylinks museum.
Members of his family are now protesting through song about the UK’s potential withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights.
Downing Street is considering the possibility of withdrawing from the convention to allow it to implement the deportation of illegal migrants more easily.
Performing at Dornoch will be Maxwell Fyfe’s eldest grandson Tom Blackmore, his wife Sue Casson, and their adult children Lily Casson and Robert Blackmore.
The family, who will be in Dornoch for around three hours from noon to 3pm, run a professional theatre company called English Cabaret.
They will be performing a song cycle written by Sue Casson and Called Dreams of Peace and Freedom.
Using Maxwell Fyfe’s own words, it tells the story through his eyes of the creation of the European Convention of Human Rights, which was designed to protect Europe from tyranny after World War II.
Singer Lily Casson said the song cycle “describes my great grandfather David’s journey towards the creation of modern human rights”.
Tom Blackmore, artistic director with English Cabaret, said: “These performances seek to rekindle our belief in the values of tolerance, decency and kindliness as established in the Convention, bringing alive its history to spark discussion about why it is still relevant today.”
The performance will last around five minutes but is likely to be repeated. The family, who performed at the Edinburgh Festival, will also be carrying out filming in the town.
From Dornoch, they are heading to Edinburgh and then to Liverpool, where Maxwell Fyfe met his wife Sylvia Harrison and where the couple started their family. The next venue is Oxford.
Critics have called Songs of Peace and Freedom “a secular hymn for humanity” and “a profound and beautiful experience”.
One said: “This is a story that needs to be told. Thank you for shining a desperately needed light during these dark days.”
