Keli - Paperback

by Martin Green (Author)

The skill, the craft, is in controlling the pressure.

KELI tells the story of a fiery, sharp witted seventeen year-old in a former mining town. Coal means little to Keli, but the mines left music in the blood of this place. As the best player her brass band has ever had, music is easy. Everything else is a fight. Feeling trapped in small-town life, pressure mounts.

When the chance to change everything arises, can Keli keep a lid on it all?

KELI, by Ivor Novello winner Martin Green (Lau), marks 40 years since the miners' strikes and is a gripping show about community, creativity, and music.

This edition of KELI was published to coincide with the production at National Theatre Scotland and subsequent Scottish Tour in May-June 2025.

Author Biography

Martin Green is a multi-award-winning musician and Ivor Novello winning composer. As a member of Lau he has won four BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for Best Group an unprecedented four times and toured all over the world. He has received the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists in recognition of his talent as a composer, and had commissions from Opera North, Edinburgh International Festival, The Barbican. As a writer he has been commissioned by The Guardian, National Theatre of Scotland and Southbank Centre. In 2019 he won the Ivor Novello award for Sound Art for his large scale public installation "Aeons". His critically acclaimed work for as a broadcaster for BBC Radio 4 exploring musical and social themes including: rave culture, morris dancing and brass banding, has received millions of listens. He was a recipient of the 2024 National Theatre Peter Shaffer Commissions for new large scale plays.