A National Theatre for Scotland?

THE ARTS JOURNAL canvassed reactions on the new National Theatre of Scotland from some of the movers and shakers in Highland theatre.

IN THE WAKE of Richard Findlay’s open consultation sessions in the Highlands on the National Theatre of Scotland, I decided it would be a propitious moment to invite some of the best known names in Highland theatre to give their views on what will – for better or worse – be a major development for Scottish theatre.

I asked two questions, and added an invitation:

Do we need a National Theatre of Scotland as currently constituted?

What benefits might it bring to theatre in the Highlands?

If you have anything to add not covered by these questions, please feel free to do so.

Most of the people I approached have responded (one or two have sent their apologies, one or two haven’t replied, and one or two still intend to do so). Read the responses below to find out how they view the prospect of the National Theatre of Scotland. All views expressed are those of the contributors.

(Note: my careless use of the word ‘constituted’ in framing the original questions caused slight confusion – some respondents took it to refer to a formal constitution rather than just the broader sense of ‘set up in this way’. My apologies.)

Kenny Mathieson
Commissioning Editor
July 2004

Hamish MacDonald
Artistic Director, Dogstar

TO RESPOND TO the questions ‘Does Scotland need a National Theatre?’ and ‘What benefits might it bring to the Highlands?’ is akin to predicting the results of a yet untried experiment. We can only voice our hopes and concerns.

What the National Theatre must aim to do is break current perceived barriers between Highland and Lowland theatre. To achieve this with any degree of honesty – it is vital that the commissioning body recognises, nurtures and works towards uniting the voices of those writers, producers, and directors who work within and embrace the real-life experience of the Highlands and Islands.

The alternative, however imaginatively conceived and lavishly produced, will ultimately speak with a hollow voice. Tapping into those vital cultural reserves that reach down to us over fifteen centuries into this brutalised, depersonalized millennium, it is time for Highland theatre to step out from the shadows. Only a genuine voice will be capable of telling the whole story.

POSTSCRIPT

Further to the point of this brutalised, depersonalized millennium, one personal concern is to hold the National Theatre well out of the reach of politicians. One of the most alarming sights of this or any other millennium must surely have been the sight of Oor Jack togged as office girl-meets-Braveheart during the so-called Tartan Day celebrations in New York. An event constituted by none other than Mississippi Republican senator Trent Lott, staunch supporter of Bush and Blair’s lies in the lead-up to the war in Iraq, and whose personal solution to the conflict was to ‘mow the whole place down’. Pin-stripe kilts and tipping a dram to murdering fanatics. Unfortunately, this is what letting your politicians (however well-meaning) too close to your national culture can lead to. Let it be a stern warning to us all.

Simon MacKenzie
Artistic Director, TOSG Gaelic Theatre Company

I WAS RATHER taken by the playwright David Greig’s observation that “the National Theatre is like an elephant let loose upon the machair; it’s a spectacular heavyweight but whoever’s leading it wants to tread carefully because there’s some delicate indigenous plant life underfoot.”

The quotation from an article he wrote in the Sunday Herald’s Sevendays (14th March) sums up the fears of many, not just in the Highlands but elsewhere in Scotland. The money could be spent on strengthening our existing companies, establishing them as component elements of the National Theatre, or it could undermine their very foundations if it is established in opposition to them.

The Executive’s declaration of financial support for the National Theatre came as a complete surprise. My recollection is that the sum of money was suddenly ‘found’ and, given the uncertainty of sourced funding, what is going to happen when the current funding commitment expires? Where is the money going to come from? What guarantees exist? Will the Executive give a further undertaking of support if it retains power? Will each party’s manifesto declare its commitment to a Scottish National Theatre? The Tories, no doubt, will demand a wholly commercial, unsubsidised theatre whilst New Labour will anticipate a further mouthpiece for its socially inclusive agenda. These are extremes, but they must be anticipated and vigorously opposed. The great danger is that small companies could easily be squeezed out of existence in the struggle to establish the National Theatre.

If it succeeds, it must be light, portable and address the needs of all of Scotland. It’s presence must be felt from the village halls of the Highlands and Islands to the larger urban theatres of the Lowlands. It should have a multi-lingual policy addressing the needs of all of Scotland, and I would vigorously oppose any attempt to ‘house’ the National Theatre. It must be free from the shackles of in-house productions. It must have the freedom to rehearse and perform throughout Scotland.

Of course, it has to have an administrative base and I am disappointed at the haste with which Easterhouse has been earmarked as a potential base for its administrative offices. I fear that it is not at a sufficient remove from the West Ends of Glasgow or Edinburgh to reassure the people of the Borders, the North East, or the Highlands.

We have a unique opportunity to create a distinctive form of National Theatre, unlike anything else which exists in Western Europe. But already there is an apparent lack of vision………..why shouldn’t the National be based in Inverness, Perth, Dundee or Aberdeen? I fear that the short arm of the Executive is already at work and the choice of Easterhouse is rather predictable. Of course, the citizens of Easterhouse have as much right to their share of the National Theatre’s bounties as anyone else in Scotland, but I fear that the perception outwith the Central Belt will be, “Here we go again!”

I welcome the establishment of a National Theatre in Scotland provided it listens to all of Scotland and articulates on stages small and grand, throughout the land, the varied voices of Scotland. Let the voice of the Gael be heard alongside the voice of the Punjabi speaker and let us hear broad Scots alongside the Queen’s English. But above all else, let it be the voice of Scotland……..strong, focussed, articulate and speaking not just to our own people but to the world at large.

John Durnin
Artistic Director, Pitlochry Festival Theatre

YES, A NATIONAL THEATRE that follows the commissioning model is needed. No other mechanism exists – or is likely to be created – that offers the possibility for creating great, insiring work that draws on all of Scottish theatre’s diverse traditions and practices, which can operate at all scales and which can be delivered to every part of the country. From community arts projects to mixed-media new work to No.1 scale classics, all of Scottish theatre as currently experienced and delivered falls within the NToS remit: outwith the NToS commissioning model, how could such a breadth of activity be delivered to every corner of the country?

The benefits it might it bring to theatre in the Highlands are diversity and exposure. Despite the range of theatre provision that already exists in the Highlands, there is always room for more, particularly when diversity and the pursuit of excellence are at the core of the NToS model. Audiences, participants and providers should all benefit from the sharing of other practice, other experiences and other perspectives. In turn, by drawing upon the skills and expertise of companies and practitioners currently working in the Highlands, the distinctive qualities of the best and most exciting practice pursued within the region will be made available through the NToS to the rest of Scotland.

John McGeoch
Arts in Motion

WHERE CAN I read the current National Theatre Constitution? I can’t say I’ve been part of the debate as my slightly cynical side says that any Highland relevance will be 90 percent token, and then 90 percent of that will centre around Eden Court or the Highland Festival – or should I say Inverness Festival! So I do need to know more before I put on a serious head and assess what it may or may not mean. Mostly though I just don’t have the time to enter into these countless initiatives and forums and questionnaires that now constitute the Arts world. Its where far too much money is going as far as I’m concerned. Too much bureaucracy generating more feedback and response issues than I can deal with, unless someone is going to fund us to have someone to deal with all the stuff generated from these bodies and posts and appointments, etc, etc.

Basically I will be into anything that means that after 20 years I can stop personally subsidising a full time theatre arts company in the Highlands. What price dedication? Have you seen the list of stuff we are doing, have been doing, and not a single subsidised post in the whole organisation?

So you can see I have plenty of rants, but not a lot of faith in much funding vis a vis national theatre coming our way – it will be siphoned off by those much closer to the source and those more dedicated to administration liasing and the like. Don`t get me wrong, these are important and essential skills, but without funding they are paid for by work, so we concentrate on work and have to keep going that way.

I also acknowledge that we are assisted in a project sense by the Scottish Arts Council and HI~Arts, but as regards a being part of a ‘National Theatre’ project, funding is not enough. Everywhere I look there are ‘Arts’ posts – they are just not with the people actually producing the work or directly assisting them to produce work.

The cart is leading the horse, and the horses are getting tired. We lost one of the best set builders and stage managers the Highlands have had a couple of weeks ago. Andy Laing has gone off after a great many years arts work to refit mobile homes – a regular wage and close to home. Eric Tessier-Lavigne (Tartan Chameleon) is studying acupuncture and is no longer applying for funding. Eric might be a bit over-ambitious for the Highlands, but then again we will be lucky to attract another of his quality up here except from the top down, and that will cost a lot more than as if we had cultivated what we already have.

Colin Marr
Director, Eden Court Theatre

DO WE NEED a National Theatre of Scotland as currently constituted? Very early to say but broadly, yes. £7.5 million new money into drama in Scotland has to be good news, whatever niggles there might be about the constitution. Avoiding the unnecessary expense and geographical links of a building and resident company is a very good start, so I think the basis is good.

How it will be delivered remains to be seen and there has to be a worry that if it commissions existing companies to do something similar to what they currently do, then the NToS is little more than an extra, and unnecessary, chain in the funding pattern. However, if they commission existing companies to do something that would not otherwise have been possible and then take it to parts of Scotland and beyond that wouldn’t previously have been reached, then it will have started to do something very worthwhile.

If it goes further and puts together combinations of directors, writers and actors that wouldn’t otherwise be possible then it becomes a bit of a success, and if it then attracts writers, directors and actors who wouldn’t otherwise work in Scotland then I think we could all be very happy.

As regards benefits to the Highlands, it could bring talent here that wouldn’t otherwise be seen, and for the Highlands this must be what the NToS is judged on. If it attracts the best Scottish writers, directors and actors back to work in Scottish Theatre (or maybe for the first time) but fails to get them beyond the major cities, then it will not have reacted properly to Scotland today. If it aspires to be truly ‘National’ then it must find a way of taking the best and biggest of its work to some of the smallest places. It’s a considerable challenge, but their success must be seen everywhere.

Ally MacLeod
Roadrunner Theatre Company

FIRST OF ALL, it’s a little difficult for me to comment on the National Theatre’s constitution, as I haven’t read it. Therefore, anything I say might be completely irrelevant. However, let me share my reservations as they have always stood.

My main concern, in particular for small theatre companies in the Highlands, is this: in my experience a large section of the theatre going audience in Highland will quite happily travel many miles to see something at Eden Court as this is their idea of theatre, whereas if something comes to their local village hall they don’t go as this to many isn’t classed ‘proper theatre.’

If they do go to their local village hall, they will more than likely go to see a company from the south, as locally based companies ‘couldn’t possibly be as good as those from Glasgow or Edinburgh.’ A case in point being Dogstar’s last tremendous show ‘Seven Ages’ which, although touring reasonably extensively throughout the north, still did not receive the attention it deserved.

A ‘National Theatre’ by virtue of its name is more than likely going to prolong the incredibly elitist beliefs that still, sadly, exist regarding theatre in this part of the world. Sorry to be so negative, and by nature I’m not, but we struggle for audiences at times as it is up here – would we not lose even more to what would be considered ‘proper theatre?’

Perhaps not. Perhaps it would improve our chances of reaching more people. Perhaps it would raise the profile of theatre in the Highlands. Could that not, however, be done just as successfully with the backing of Arts bodies throughout the country without draining our already bleak funding reserves? However, like I said, I haven’t read the constitution. Perhaps a read of it might quash my fears.

John Byrne
Writer and Visual Artist

John Byrne gave this response when asked about the National Theatre during his keynote speech at the Changing Lives conference in Moray in May.

“The so-called National Theatre in London seems to be the national theatre of American musicals, as far as I can see. I can’t recall anything Scottish there, ever. I like the idea of not having a building, but of funding projects and touring them. It might allow bigger productions to go out on tour.

My dread is that it is all going to be worthy stuff, like a museum. A national theatre should be a living entity, and it should be about what people are doing on stages all over Scotland.”

© HI-Arts, 2004