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Dateline: 3rd May, 2009
Tom McGrath (1940 - 2009) Tom McGrath, playwright and one of the most influential men in the Scottish theatre over the years, has died of cancer, aged 68. Strongly influenced by the Beat poets of the 50s and 60s - he appeared in a poetry reading at the Royal Albert Hall in 1965 with Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso - he became features editor of Peace News and, in 1966, editor of the International Times. By the end of the decade, addicted to heroin, he returned to Scotland, kicked the drug habit and went to Glasgow University to study English and Drama. He began his theatrical career three years later, providing the music for Tell Charlie Thanks For The Truss at the Traverse and the following year went on to become musical director for The Great Northern Welly Boot Show with Billy Connolly. In 1974 he set up and became director of Glasgow's Third Eye Centre (now the Centre for Contemporary Arts). He started writing plays and his first big hit, in 1976, was Laurel and Hardy, revived at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum in 2005 and in 2007 at the New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme. It was followed by The Hardman, which he co-wrote with murderer Jimmy Boyle. In the eighties he was one of the founders of the Tron Theatre in Glasgow and continued to write, not only for theatre but also for television and radio. He was appointed associate literary director (Scotland) by the Scottish Arts Council, which led to the setting up of the Playwrights Studio Scotland.
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