SCOTTISH DRAMA COMES OF AGE: AN EXAMINATION OF THREE SCOTTISH PLAYS (EDINBURGH FESTIVAL; SCOTLAND).

Abstract

Since the turn of the century Scottish drama has struggled to create drama distinct from England's. The four century dearth in playwriting is attributed to the antipathy of the Scottish Kirk holding sway in Scotland after King James moved his court to London in 1603. Inspired by Dublin's Abbey Theatre, the Scots' dream of a national theatre is traced through three major periods: Rebirth, Inter-war and Postwar. Analysis reveals organismic development where spurts of growth are followed by plateaus of consolidation. An early stage of Kailyard drama was followed by a return to the Scots dialect. Thus they created their own pseudo-indigenous drama. The national theatre torch first carried by the Glasgow Repertory Company in 1909 passed to the Scottish national Players in the 1920s before settling with the Citizens' Theatre in the 1940s. The Post-war Edinburgh Festival has acted like a pressure-cooker to drama. Two Scottish historical studies point to talented writers and theatrical craft in abundance. Nevertheless, first magnitude writers failed to emerge. Scholars identified major weaknesses as: writers poorly based in dramatic theory; bridging the gap between the parochial and universal; historical themes lacking cognizance of the present; and a reliance on derogatory comic stereotypes. This study of three recent Scottish plays, Chinchilla by David Robert MacDonald, Animal by Tom McGrath and The Jesuit, by Donald Campbell concludes that Scottish drama has overcome its weaknesses. It now passes the test of universality without loss of Scottish ethnicity. Dealing with man's relationship to art, his fellowman and God, all three proclaim their Celtic origins through the imaginative use of space, time and consciousness. The authors' sophisticated, poetic use of language indicates that Scottish drama has arrived at last on the threshold of maturity.