An exuberant "Ceilidh" play with scenes songs and music of Highland history from the clearances to the oil strike
John McGrath was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, in 1935.
After national service and Oxford University, he wrote and directed
for theatre and television, as well as writing for cinema. Early
work included Z-Cars for BBC-TV (1962), Events While Guarding the
Bofors Gun (1966) and the screenplay for Billion Dollar Brain
(1976). In 1971, together with Elizabeth MacLennan, he co-founded
the 7:84 Theatre Company, which divided into Scottish and English
companies in 1973 with McGrath remaining as Artistic Director of
both. During his career McGrath wrote over 60 plays, including Fish
in the Sea (1972), The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil
(1973), Blood Red Roses (1980), Border Warfare (1989), Watching for
Dolphins (1992) and, most recently, HyperLynx (2001). He was twice
Visiting Fellow in Theatre at Cambridge University. His previous
books include A Good Night Out (1981), The Bone Won’t Break (1990)
and Six Pack: Plays for Scotland (1996).
McGrath founded Freeway Films in 1982, for which he produced,
amongst others, The Dressmaker (1985), Carrington (1995), Ma Vie en
Rose (1997) and Aberdeen (2002). He also founded Moonstone
International Screen Labs to support and promote independent
European filmmaking. He received Lifetime Achievement Awards from
both BAFTA (in 1993) and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (in
1997), as well as Honorary Doctorates from the University of
Stirling and the University of London. He died in 2002.
arguably the single most important show in the whole history of
Scottish theatre: important not only because of its angry,
hilarious, brilliantly-researched political content, still almost
frighteningly relevant today, but because its ceilidh form, and its
passionate commitment to touring to communities large and small,
galvanised an irreversible change in what Scotland thought theatre
was, what it could do, and who its audience might be. . . . John
McGrath's great play will reach out to a new generation, and
continue to evolve, develop, and live, along with the story of
Scotland itself.
*Scotsman*
a spine-tingling call to arms that needs to be heard across the
land right now.
*Herald*
There are no us-and-them divisions here, just the collective
enjoyment of a spirited ensemble and the thrill of hearing truth
being spoken to power.
*Guardian*
John McGrath's hugely important fusion of Highland ceilidh and
old-fashioned Scots musical theatre . . . remains alive and
contemporary. As a play it has everything, and it throws it at you
in generous handfuls; laugher, farce, drama, live song and dance,
finely researched political intent.
*Independent*
John McGrath's landmark political drama
*The Times*
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