A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays

This bonus episode of A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays features a live panel discussion recorded at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025. What do Scotland's playwrights want to write about? What challenges do they face in doing so? And how does The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities' fellowship help? All this and more is explored by former IASH fello...

The final episode of A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays features a live discussion recorded on Monday October 28 at the Traverse Theatre. What have been the most remarkable Scottish plays of the last decade? How hard is it to produce new drama right now? And what can be done about it? All this and more is explored by the critic Mark Fisher, the playwrights Isla Cowan and Nicola McCartney, an...

Episode six of A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays focuses on Gregory Burke's 2006 play Black Watch. What happened in Scottish theatre after Scottish devolution in 1997 and the reconvening of the Scottish parliament in 1999? How did the National Theatre of Scotland come into being? How did it achieve such incredible, international success within months of opening? And what about the history o...

Episode five of A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays focuses on Stephen Greenhorn's 1997 play Passing Places. What happened when Glasgow became European City of Culture in 1990? What influence did that have on Scottish theatre? How did a new generation of playwrights grapple with Scotland's post-industrial identity? What happened when they went on strike to get paid properly? All this and more...

Episode Four of A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays focuses on Jo Clifford's 1985 play Losing Venice . What happened in Scottish theatre in the 1980s? How was the country's staunch opposition to Margaret Thatcher expressed on stage? How did a new generation of boundary-breaking playwrights emerge at the Traverse Theatre? What happened when arts cuts began to bite? All this and more is explore...

Episode Three of A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays focuses on John McGrath and 7:84's 1973 play The Cheviot, The Stag And The Black, Black Oil. What happened in Scottish theatre in the 1950s and 1960s? How did Scottish drama explode in the 1970s? What role did 7:84 play? What happens in The Cheviot, The Stag And The Black, Black Oil, and why is it so celebrated? All this and more is explore...

Episode Two of A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays focuses on Ena Lamont Stewart's 1947 play Men Should Weep. What did theatre look like in the nineteenth century? What role did amateur activity play in Scottish drama in the early twentieth century? What did Glasgow Unity Theatre do? Who was Ena Lamont Stewart? How did she write a classic piece of social realism - and how was it forgotten abo...

Episode One of A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays focuses on Sir David Lyndsay's sixteenth-century play A Satire Of The Three Estates. What did theatre look like in pre-Reformation Scotland? Who was David Lyndsay? Why did he write A Satire Of The Three Estates? What makes it such a remarkable play? And what came next, after the Reformation? All this and more is explored by experts including...

Episode One arrives Monday 28 October! Written drama has existed in Scotland since the sixteenth century. This is its story. A History Of Scottish Drama In Six Plays is a new podcast from journalist and critic Fergus Morgan , charting the story of Scottish drama from the sixteenth century to today. Over six episodes - plus a panel discussion recording - the podcast will travel from pre-Reformation...