Scottish Theatre in the 21st Century

This book examines the ecology and theatre making practices in Scotland in the twenty-first century. To do so, it brings together interviews from practitioners across the sector, including, for the first time, the three Artistic Directors of the National Theatre of Scotland to date: Vicky Featherstone, Laurie Sansom and Jackie Wylie. By engaging with the voices of the artists who make up the sector, this book is both about what Scottish theatre is and how feels to be a professional working in it today. Throughout, I focus on three dominant strands of theatre making in Scotland, playwrighting, touring companies and writer-performers, specifically the artists who developed through the Arches in the 2000s and 2010s, developing new working practices and aesthetics. Collectively, these voices tell the story of Scottish theatre as it is today, its shifts and changes, and how the National Theatre of Scotland, a ‘theatre without walls’, has changed the sector. Where at the turn of the century, Scottish theatre was a relatively stable mixture of new writing, new work and touring theatre, today it is quite different, more centered on large organisations and with a new writing focused on the lunchtime theatre phenomenon, A Play, a Pie and a Pint. Despite these changes, some things remain constant, Scottish theatre has a complex relationship with national identity, misogyny, language, and tendency to pursue the new at the risk of forgetting the old. Overall, though, Scottish theatre in the twenty-first century is a rich, diverse landscape full of stories.