YOU don’t have to look too hard to find the reasons why Kay Singh has chosen to write a play about Scottish myth, the Selkie.

The Selkies are said to live as seals in the sea but shed their skin to become human on land, and then mate with humans.

“I think the Selkie myth is about different things,” says the Edinburgh-born writer and the most recent recipient of the David MacLennan Prize.

“I think it’s about how people explain sexuality, which explains the symbolism of removing a skin, it’s also about explaining why people sometimes don’t fit it.”

Kay doesn’t quite ‘fit in’, not just because she is mixed race, her dad Indian and her mum Scots but because she spent the early years of her life living in different European countries, a result of her dad’s work in computer software.

“The clash of cultures idea fascinates me,” she says. “And when you do have something a bit different about your background it makes you a little bit of an outsider.

“But that’s a good thing as a writer; it encourages you to be observant and see things from a different perspective.”

The writer, who moved back to Edinburgh aged eleven adds; “I came across the Selkie mythology about a year and a half ago, so I wasn’t too familiar with the story.

“I certainly wasn’t introduced to the fairy tale as a child, and I’ve realised it’s a very dark story. But I’ve always been interested in the relationship between culture and place and storytelling.”

How does she give the Selkie story a modern context? The writer reveals it features Mac, a loner who doesn’t leave his house.

But when two strangely familiar figures appear at his door claiming to be spiritual guides, Mac is forced to remember the stories from his childhood that he would rather forget, and decide what they mean for himself.

“Mac is a very damaged individual, a broken man with mental health problems who suffers from anxiety.

“Each times he’s tried to have a job it hasn’t worked out for him. He lives in a council flat and is on Job Seeker’s Allowance. But the spiritual guides push Mac onwards.”

Kay says she can relate to Mac. “At the time of writing I was finishing my Masters, and I spent a great deal of time in the house.

“I wanted to write something that reflected that experience.”

The audience enters the mind of this man who goes on a journey, the play using elements of traditional Japanese Noh theatre, which often uses the concept of heroes and journeys to tell stories.

“I wanted to take this character and find out about his family, about the myths he’s been told by his parents, and find out what is the truth,” says Kay.

Do we need myths?

“As a writer, I find them fascinating. And I love their symbolism. It’s all about trying to connect with your own history.

“Writing about myths make you think about why we make up stories, perhaps to make us feel better and to help explain things in the world we don’t really understand.”

Kay decided to become a writer three years ago.

“I’d done bits of acting, and written for student theatre, and really enjoyed it. But I didn’t see this (world) as being available to me. I didn’t see a lot of people from my background in theatre.

“And I don’t come from a family of artists. I come from a family of software engineers and salesman, so that was the path I was encouraged to follow.

“But I did the Writing ForTheatre course at Edinburgh University where I met Nicola McCartney (the award-winning writer and director) who introduced me to the world of playwriting. A few years, I thought ‘This is something I’m really good at, and I’m really enjoying.

“Now, I feel playwriting is my purpose. I feel all of it has culminated in me doing pretty well and winning the David MacLennan Award.”

Does she enjoy the escape which creating a world offers up?

“There is something interesting about spending a lot of time with characters in your head,” she says using carefully chosen words, smiling.

Her next theatre project is to look at the history of the Indian population in Scotland.

“I think it’s a hidden aspect of Scottish culture, and it’s not been written about before,” she says in determined voice.

• Selkie, Oran Mor, until Saturday, features Melanie Jordan, Keith MacPherson and Ross Mann.