With a poetic, gripping intensity, one of Scotland's most important playwrights tells a story, set in 1939, of an innocence and a way of being that will soon be destroyed forever.

I have noticed that something draws us towards outlying islands. Some force pulls.

In 1939, on the eve of war, two young ornithologists arrive on a remote Scottish island, sent by the government to survey the bird life. With them are Kirk, the island's authoritarian leaseholder, and his niece Ellen. Left alone on a scrap of land surrounded by the vast Atlantic, they find themselves overtaken by hidden desires.

Outlying Islands premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in July 2002 and transferred to the Royal Court, London in Autumn 2002. It was revived at Jermyn Street Theatre, London, in February 2025.