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Articles
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Exciting!Dateline: 30th January, 2005There's no other word to describe the developments at the National Theatre of Scotland. First of all, of course, there's the structure - not a building-based theatre, but a commissioning body. Instead of yet another theatre in Edinburgh or Glasgow, it is - or will be, once it is fully set up - an additional source of top quality productions for theatres across the country. There was universal acclaim when Vicky Featherstone, artistic director of Paines Plough since 1997, one of Britain's leading new writing companies, was appointed as artistic director. Not only is she highly regarded in the business, but she has strong Scottish connections, for she spent part of her childhood in Scotland, brought nine productions to the Edinburgh Traverse and has worked with many of Scotland's top playwrights. Indeed she is currently working with David Greig on the premiere of his play Pyrenees, a co-production between Paines Plough and Glasow's Tron Theatre. She was also responsible for some adventurous collaborations with other companies, such as that with physical company Frantic Assembly to be produce the award-winning Tiny Dynamite. A fortnight ago it was announced that the Tron's Neil Murray is to be the NToS executive director, another appointment which has been widely applauded, although supporters of the Tron have wondered how he can be replaced. Then Featherstone announced that John Tiffany, who had been her associate director at Paines Plough, would be joining as associate director for new writing. Tiffany is a former literary manager at the Traverse where his directorial credits include Gregory Burke's Gagarin Way and Liz Lochhead's Perfect Days. Just last week two new appointments were made: playwright David Greig is to be the NToS dramaturg and Liz Lochhead is the first of seven or eight artistic associates. Names already being suggested as other possible associates are playwrights Rona Munro and Gregory Burke and actor Brian Cox. Back in September, critic Mark Fisher suggested that it would be a good idea to hand control over to playwrights Liz Lochhead, David Greig and Chris Hannan, "not just three of our best playwrights, but three of our most fertile thinkers." It's a far cry from the early fears that a national theatre could easily degnerate into a kind of national museum of Scottish theatre, constantly reviving old work. When the details of the new organisation were announced, it was widely greeted as a brave decision. Now the consequences of that decision are slowly being revealed and they are very promising. Definitely an exciting time ahead for Scottish theatre - and, indeed, for British theatre as a whole.
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