The Oxford Handbook of Scottish Theatre

The Oxford Handbook of Scottish Theatre tells the story of drama and performing in Scotland from the earliest traces of folk plays, performances, and royal ceremonies in the medieval period right up to the challenges of the present post-pandemic moment in the professional theatre. It brings together distinguished scholars, theatre professionals, critics and reviewers to share their experiences of studying and in some cases producing the most significant landmarks of Scottish stage history, discussing pivotal plays and productions (Lyndsay's Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, Ramsay's The Gentle Shepherd, Home's Douglas, adaptations of Rob Roy and the 'National Drama', Lamont Stewart's Men Should Weep, Lochhead's Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Cut Off), writers (including Joanna Baillie, J.M Barrie, James Bridie, John McGrath, and the writers of the radical post-Millenium generation), and companies (including The Scottish National Players, The Glasgow Citizens, 7:84, Wildcat, Communicado, and the National Theatre of Scotland) alongside incisive accounts of the cultural contexts (from the Reformation to the Thatcher government and beyond) that produced and challenged them.

Separate chapters explore Scots language and Gaelic drama; the popular theatrical forms of the travelling 'geggies', music hall, variety, and pantomime; theatre for young audiences; radio and television drama; the significant roles of the director and the theatre critic and reviewer in shaping Scottish theatre; and the Scottish stage's long history of dialogue with performance traditions in England, Ireland, and Continental Europe. Contributors describe the often-fierce struggles that led to the opening up of the Scottish stage to working-class voices and audiences, women writers and performers, writers of colour, LGBTQ+ voices, innovators in dramatic form, and the long process leading towards the foundation of the NTS, and its early work alongside other key developments in the twenty-first century.

Randall Stevenson, Emeritus Professor of Twentieth- Century Literature, University of Edinburgh,Greg Walker, Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature, University of Edinburgh

Randall Stevenson is Emeritus Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature in the University of Edinburgh. He began his career in a teacher-training college in North-West State, Nigeria. He has lectured abroad, often for the British Council - in Egypt, Nigeria, South Korea, and Australia, as well as in a dozen European countries - and was a Fellow of the Humanities Research Centre in the Australian National University, Canberra, in 2018. His writing concentrates on twentieth-century fiction and drama and its shaping by the pressures of contemporary history.

Greg Walker is Regius Chair of Rhetoric and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. He was previously Masson Professor of English Literature at Edinburgh, and also worked at the Universities of Leicester, Buckingham, and Queensland. He began his career as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Southampton. He writes primarily on the literature and drama of the medieval-to-Renaissance period in England and Scotland.

PrefaceIntroductionSECTION I: HISTORIESMedieval to 17001. The Theatre Scene I: Stages, Performers, Audiences: Medieval to 1700, Sarah Carpenter2. The Theatre Scene II: Stages, Performers, Audiences: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Pamela M. King3. Major Play I: Sir David Lyndsay, Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis: Renaissance Scotland's Best Kept Secret?, Greg WalkerThe Eighteenth Century4. The Theatre Scene III: Stages, Performers, Audiences: The Long Eighteenth Century, Rebecca Tierney-Hynes5. Major Play II: Allan Ramsay, The Gentle Shepherd (1725 & 1729), Brianna Robertson-Kirkland6. Major Play III: John Home, Douglas (1756), Ian Brown7. The London Scots, Penelope ColeThe Nineteenth Century8. The Theatre Scene IV: Stages, Performers, Audiences in the early Nineteenth Century, Barbara Bell9. Major Play IV: Rob Roy, Alison Lumsden10. Major Playwright I: Joanna Baillie, Clare Brennan11. The Theatre Scene V: Stages, Performers, Audiences in the late Nineteenth Century, Paul Maloney12. J.M. Barrie and Turn-of-the-Century London, Penelope Cole1900 to the Mid-Twentieth Century13. The Theatre Scene VI: Stages, Performers, Audiences, 1900-1950, Ian Brown14. Companies and Writers: 1900 to 1940, David Goldie15. The 1920s and After: The Scottish National Players, Donald Smith16. Major Playwright II: James Bridie and His Theatre, Gerard Carruthers17. Popular, Political Theatre in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Linda Mackenney18. Major Play V: Ena Lamont Stewart, Men Should Weep, Linda MackenneyThe Mid-Twentieth Century to 200019. The Theatre Scene VII: Stages. Performers, Audiences, c.1950-2000, Ksenija Horvat20. Scottish Playwrights 1950-1970, Anne Varty21. 'Citizens and Studios': The Glasgow Citizens, Traverse, and Close Theatres, David Hutchison22. John McGrath and 7:84: 'The Moon Belongs to Everyone', Olga Taxidou23. The Post-1980 (post-Devolution Bill) Scottish Theatre Renaissance, Tom Maguire24. Major Play VI: Liz Lochhead, Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, Randall StevensonThe Twenty-First Century25. The Theatre Scene VIII: Stages, Performers, Audiences: The Twenty-First Century, David Overend26. The National Theatre of Scotland: Theatre Without Walls, Allan Radcliffe27. New Playwrights: Plays and Playwriting in Scotland, the 1990s to the 2020s, Nicola McCartneySECTION II: THEMES AND VARIATIONS28. Scots Language Drama (including Translation/Adaptation), John Corbett29. The Professionalisation of Gaelic Drama, Michelle MacLeod30. Popular Theatre, Music Hall, Variety and Pantomime, Paul Maloney31. Theatre for Young Audiences in Scotland, Ben Fletcher-Watson32. Influences from Abroad, Femi Folorunso33. Directing, Gerry Mulgrew34. Radio Drama, Bruce Young35. A Makeshift Bastard . . .': Peter McDougall's Just Your Luck and Just Another Saturday Night and Troy Kennedy Martin's 'New Drama for Television', Brian Hoyle36. Critics and Reviewers, Mark Fisher37. Afterword, Michael BillingtonIndex