Deacon Blue singer Ricky Ross on the new stage show exploring bonds between Lockerbie and the US

Singer and composer Ricky Ross and playwright Frances Poet are collaborating on the stage show Small Acts of Love. | Brian Ferguson

It will forever link the small Scottish town of Lockerbie with the United States.

Now the transatlantic bonds forged across more than 35 years since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 are to be explored in a major new stage show in Scotland.

Deacon Blue singer and songwriter Ricky Ross is working on the new stage show Small Acts of Love. | Tommy Ga-Ken Wan/Citizens Theatre

Deacon Blue singer-songwriter Ricky Ross has joined forces with leading playwright Frances Poet and Glasgow's Citizens Theatre to create the production.

Real-life friendships and relationships will be brought to life in Small Acts of Love, which will feature at least nine specially-composed songs. The show, which will be performed by 14 actor singers and a five-strong band when it premieres in September, has been nearly five years in the making.

Playwright Frances Poet is working on the new stage show Small Acts of Love. | Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

It will be the first major production staged at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow when it reopens next year after a £40 million revamp.

The production explores the legacy of the help and friendship offered from the people of Lockerbie to the American victims of the bombing of a New York-bound flight, which exploded above the town 38 minutes after taking off from Heathrow.

Dominic Hill, the theatre's artistic director, suggested a meeting between Poet and Ross after they had worked separately on previous ‘Citz’ productions.

Singer-songwriter Ricky Ross, playwright Frances Poet and Dominic Hill, artistic director of the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow are working together on the new stage show Small Acts of Love. | Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Poet's initial inspiration was the efforts of a group of Lockerbie women who helped reunite American families with clothing and other personal possessions recovered around the countryside in the aftermath of the bombing.

Poet said: "Ricky and I had our first coffee to talk about a possible collaboration at the beginning of 2020, just before the pandemic.

The new-look Citizens Theatre in Glasgow is due to fully reopen in the autumn of 2025

"It actually afforded us the opportunity to do lots of interviews, initially with former journalists and police officers who were in Lockerbie in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity, and were then able to get access to some of the families.

"Although passengers of many nationalities were on the plane, we've focused on American relatives of some of the victims to tell a transatlantic story of how two communities were brought together in horrendous circumstances, and then forged incredible bonds of family-like friendship and even romance."

Dominic Hill will be directing the stage show Small Acts of Love | Tommy Ga-Ken

The production has been developed in collaboration with 13 different families of American victims. Approval has been secured for the stories of 30 real people to be featured.

Poet said: "I realised at quite an early stage that I really wanted to honour and name the passengers who had died. I didn't want to fictionalise any of the stories.

Policemen looking at the wreckage of the 747 Pan Am airliner that exploded over Lockerbie. Image: Roy Letkey/Getty Images.

"We’ve worked closely with the families throughout every stage of development to make sure that they were happy with how they and their loved ones were being represented, including sharing the script and a number of the songs.

"Everyone we spoke to was happy with our intentions. It's an incredible responsibility and privilege to be able to tell those stories.

"Theatre has always been a form for telling stories that scare you, and for looking at people who are under unbearable pressure and seeing how they react. We'll be telling stories of people who reacted with grace, love and compassion. I find it inspiring and reassuring that people can encounter unimaginable pain and emerge with love. It could be a very moving, communal and cathartic experience for our audiences."

Ross, who recalled being in London recording a new Deacon Blue album when the bombing happened, said: "Lockerbie casts a long show in Scotland.

"Apart from anything else, it was the biggest single terrorist act in Britain and everyone of my generation knows where they were that night. For us, it was probably our JFK moment.

"I think our story tells of something about Scotland, the way Scotland reacted to the disaster, the way it connected with America and the way that human beings picked themselves up from the lowest point of their lives.

"How you recover from that, how you make sense of it and how you move on are questions that this show would like to address."

Hill, who will direct the show, described Small Acts of Love as "a play with songs", rather than musical theatre.

He said: "I think there is a very Scottish tradition of storytelling which music is an important part of. I think this very much fits into that tradition.

"A lot of the work we've done is about how the music integrates with the text. It's not a typical show where the action stops and people start singing. The songs are very much interwoven. It's ultimately a very beautiful integration of music, text and movement."

At least nine new Americana-style songs written by Ross are due to be featured in Small Acts of Love, which will be performed by a cast of 14 actor-singers and a five-piece band.

Ross said: "When we get our stage band together, the feel of the music will be Americana. There will be American and Scottish voices in the show, and Americana is essentially a blend of folk and country.

"Writing a song for theatre is different, musically and lyrically. It's got to be a song that more than one person can sing and it's got to work in the context of the show.

"It's got to be true to what the narrative is at that point and it's got to feel like it complements the mood. If it jars, it just won't work. But I've done it before and you learn on the job.”

Hill said Small Acts of Love was deliberately programmed to reopen the theatre to demonstrate its future ambitions.

He said: "We want to set our stall that the Citz is about ambition and putting on large-scale, bold and imaginative drama theatre.

"We're very much looking to the future. Maybe even more so with the new Citz, we are committing to work with writers to create big, new and important work. It was very important for this show to reflect the ambition of the new building."

Although the show is only confirmed for a one-off run in Glasgow, there are hopes it will eventually travel to the US.

Poet said: "It would be amazing to be able to take this to America. This is a transatlantic story. It's wonderful to be able to open in Scotland, but going to America definitely feels right for this project."

Hill said: "At the moment, we are just focusing on getting it on here and seeing what happens. It would be great if the Americans could see it. It feels as if it belongs to America as much as Scotland."