AWARD-WINNING Borders theatre company Firebrand is set tour Scotland next month with the Scottish premiere of Frank McGuinness’ compelling play, The Match Box.

And the short tour includes the Heart of Hawick as well as the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, and the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow.

Richard Baron directs the new production of the monologue, which was written by Irish Tony Award winning McGuinness in 2012.

The Match Box combines lyricism and humour in a passionate story of grief, revenge and the temptations of evil.

It explores the ties that bind and the shockingly brutal events that bring Sal to a remote exile on Valentia Island off the coast of County Kerry.

McGuinness has created an intriguing heroine, a woman to be pitied and feared in equal measure. Her intriguing story begs only one question of the audience; what would you do if pushed to the very edge?

Following the success of last year’s acclaimed production of Grounded, Firebrand have again joined forces with The Byre Theatre, St Andrews and Heart of Hawick to bring this production to Scottish audiences.

Director Richard Baron said: “It is a complete encounter with grief and the will to forgive, with powerful resonances of recent Scottish news stories about gang-related shootings.

"With superb storytelling skill, McGuinness’s atmospheric revenge drama uses surprising humour, and in?uences ranging from Samuel Beckett to Greek tragedy, to dig fearlessly into the ?esh and sinew of such an event, posing awkward questions about public, mass media, and private reactions to the concept of vengeance.”

After her acclaimed performance in Grounded this new production features actor Janet Coulson as Sal and the creative team is comprised of award-winning director Richard Baron, designer Ken Harrison and composer Jon Beales, whose successes with Firebrand include the sell-out tour of Rona Munro’s Iron.

Sophy Delavigne, operations manager at Heart of Hawick, told us: “We are delighted to welcome back Firebrand to the Heart of Hawick Theatre.

"It’s wonderful to be able to host such an innovative theatre company and we look forward to what is sure to be another powerful production.”

The Match Box will be performed at the Heart of Hawick on Friday and Saturday, February 9 and 10 at 7.30pm, and also on the Sunday, February 11, afternoon at 2.30.

Tickets, priced at £14, are available from the box office on 01450 360688 or at www.heartofhawick.co.uk