As part of the 2026 Winter Words Festival, Pitlochry Festival Theatre will present a rehearsed reading of House of Lies by Scottish playwright, George Byatt.
Directed by his son, Andrew Byatt, this heartfelt production is brought to life by lead actors Simone Lahbib and Ceit Kearney, whose remarkable fifty‑five‑year friendship adds genuine warmth and depth to the play’s long‑lasting connections on and off the stage.
Simone who will play “Verity”, and Ceit who will play “Younger Verity” first met in a ballet class in Stirling when they were only four years old.
Ceit shared their story:
The town of Stirling, circa 1969, two little girls of around four/four and a half attend the same Ballet class and soon become the best of friends. They were my dear friend Simone Lahbib and me – Ceit Kearney.
Simone and I attended the same Primary and Secondary schools in the Stirling area, though I was in the year above her. Luckily, we both ended up living in Causewayhead, literally in the shadow of the Wallace Monument, and once we were old enough, we were allowed to take the bus to our Ballet lessons in town together every week.
We both loved our Ballet, Tap and Modern dance classes and as wee girls harboured notions of becoming ballerinas! However, much as we loved our dancing, we’d quite often be told off for chatting, laughing or pulling faces and play-acting while at the barre, which was supposed to be a serious business! I think even then our mischief and comedic dancing pointed to two performers who may need more that the medium of dance to express themselves.
As children we spent lots of our weekends together, playing games, helping with younger siblings, reading comics and watching TV. But the best fun was in the summer holidays when I’d ride my bike to Simone’s in the morning and we spent the long sunny days making up songs, plays and dances and having sleepovers, with sweeties and crisps from the corner shop as our midnight feasts, in the old converted stable, which we helped to paint and do up, at the back of Simone’s parents’ house. Both of us were treated just like one of the family in each other’s homes during those golden years, which I treasure and will always hold close to my heart.
Simone Lahbib (front row, third from left) and Ceit Kearney (front row, second from right)
My family moved away to Strathyre in 1979 and though I continued to attend the same school for my last two years, we had no mobile phones, messaging apps or social media then, so keeping in touch was much harder and once I’d given up my dance classes, we didn’t get to see each other as much as we’d have liked. Simone continued to work hard at her dancing and was accepted to Dance College in Edinburgh on leaving school, while I headed to Glasgow, having spent summer 1982 at Scottish Youth Theatre, and joined a YOP Scheme Touring Theatre Company (imaginatively called “The Company”!) based at the Glasgow Arts Centre.
Following my year with “The Company”, I joined the GAC’s own excellent drama group GRID and along with other members formed our own, completely un-funded, but Arts Centre supported, theatre company: “Theatre Factory” and spent a few years, mostly stony-broke, without an Equity card, working several other non-acting jobs on and off to support myself and honing my skills as an actress, doing as many plays as possible and learning everything I could about performing. In 1987 I was taken on as a Community Drama Worker in Maryhill as part of a Youth Training Scheme and reconnected with an SYT and “Company” alumni who pressed me to apply for Drama College. I took his advice and in 1988 I began a BA Degree at the then RSAMD, now RCS, graduating in 1991, followed by a year of teacher training to gain my PGDE in Drama, before beginning my first TV job on Gaelic Drama Machair in the Autumn of 1992. In the following years, in between marriage and having a family, I went on to appear in several TV and Film (mainly Gaelic language) roles, as well as recording numerous radio plays for BBC Radio 4 and doing some supply drama teaching on and off. Later, after a period away from the business to raise my boys, I returned to the industry, completing several tours between 2011 and 2017 with NTS/Communicado/Borderline/Hirtle Theatre Companies and appearing in Armchair Detectives, The Victim and Still Game.
Meanwhile, back in 1980’s Edinburgh, Simone had successfully completed her 4 years of dance training, but after she played a small role in an independent film called The Girl in The Picture, Simone decided she wanted to learn the craft of acting and enrolled at Queen Margaret University to study drama.
After her graduation in 1990 Simone went on to do a season of plays at The Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh, and several other plays with Scottish companies such as 7:84, Borderline and The Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, as well as several pantos at the Kings theatre, first as a dancer, then as an actor. This was followed by several small television roles including Taggart, after which Simone was offered representation by an agent in London and headed South to start the next chapter of her life as a professional actress.
Simone’s talent was soon spotted and she began working on many top UK productions, making a great success in various roles on TV shows such as Bad Girls, Wire in the Blood, The Loch, Vera, Downton Abbey and Eastenders as well as roles in hit US TV shows and numerous feature films, including the Oscar-winning British movie Philomena.
Simone Lahbib (left) and Ceit Kerney (right)
There were some years when Simone and I didn’t see much of one another, but whenever we met, we just picked up where we left off and within minutes, we’d be roaring with laughter over something or other and chatting nineteen to the dozen, just like old times!
I always felt enormous pride and took great delight in Simone’s wider success and felt thrilled for my dear friend whenever I saw her appear in the papers or Radio Times and I know she was always rooting for me, especially on a personal level when I went through breast cancer in 2012/13 and she visited from London, hugged me tight and told me I was rocking the blonde wig!
I think the first time Simone and I properly re-united after our training years was at a workshop with The Scottish Actor’s Studio, which had begun back in 1994 and was run by the wonderful, force of nature that is Andrew Byatt (Actor, Artistic Director and Producer). This particular workshop in 1996 was led by the late Hollywood star Mickey Rooney, whose Father was born in Govan. It was a fantastic event, really brilliant for Scottish/Scotland-based actors and allowed Simone and I to catch up and get back in more regular contact with each other.
However, with Simone living in London and me in Glasgow, we weren’t able to meet and catch-up as often as we’d have liked and sadly, had never had the opportunity to work together until now!
Remarkably, the aforementioned and very splendid Andrew Byatt, despite knowing both of us for over 30 years, was not aware of the deep, life-long friendship, history and connection that existed between Simone and I, when he invited both of us to work with him on a rehearsed reading of the brilliant House of Lies by his late, great, Father George Byatt for the Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s wonderful Winter Words Festival this February.
To say we are excited and absolutely buzzing to be able to work together on this project would be an understatement, we are thrilled beyond words and especially that it’s with our dear, mutual friend Andrew on one of his Dad’s superb plays! It’s taken over 55 years, but at long last us two mischievous little performers shall share the stage as professional actors and that, for me, is simply a dream come true!
See House of Lies only at Winter Words Festival at 6pm on Saturday 14 February 2026. Book now.
