Interview with David Greig - Winter Words Festival
Pitlochry Festival Theatre - 2021 Winter Words Festival
David Greig spoke to Elizabeth Newman about his career, Scottish theatre, and the new audio-digital theatre platform Sound Stage over Zoom.
This was an opportunity to join live a conversation between two of the most influential people in Scottish Theatre today. David Greig, prolific playwright and artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, and Elizabeth Newman, Artistic Director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre, at the opening of 2021 Winter Words. What an insightful evening it turned out to be. The focus was on two distinct facets of Greig’s work and career. First as a dramatist and second as artistic director. With a large body of work behind him as a writer, including twenty-four plays since 1994 and 12 adaptations and translations, his body of work speaks for itself. A Scot growing up in Nigeria it was interesting to hear how he finally found his voice as a writer. With a developed RP accent and coming from a different childhood his writing tends to reflect the viewpoints and yearnings of characters who themselves come from different places. They do not quite fit in as with in his latest work Adventures with the Painted People. He manages to capture the mood of the moment before it evaporates. This new play was expected to be performed in the 2020 season at Pitlochry but was sadly cancelled due to the pandemic with a radio broadcast instead. This would have been for me the highlight of the season.
The lovely Elizabeth Newman, as an artistic director herself, discussed with him the trials and joys of being the Artistic Director of a prestigious theatre. They both talked about the programming work, when it works and when it doesn’t. Drawing audiences and the thrill of theatre, not just the show itself, but all the preambles and shared experience of live work. They both enthused about the new season joint audio venture with Naked Productions between Pitlochry and the Lyceum - Sound Stage.
The exciting new venture will open next month with the premiere of ANGELA from Mark Ravenhill, as well as new co-productions written by John Byrne (The Slab Boys, Traverse Theatre and Tutti Frutti, BBC Scotland and his first new play since Nova Scotia at the Traverse Theatre in 2008); Roy Williams (Death of England and Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads, National Theatre); Jaimini Jethwa (The Last Queen of Scotland, Dundee Rep ); Timberlake Wertenbaker (Our Country’s Good, National Theatre and Broadway); Frances Poet (Ghost Light, National Theatre of Scotland); Gary McNair (Locker Room Talk, Traverse) and Lynda Radley (Interference, Edinburgh Fringe and Futureproof, Traverse Theatre and Dundee Rep.
A new cast of actors have been assembled and recording is taking place now. An exciting move forward which both agreed in the future will form part of the work that theatres will embrace as well as the real thing. It is interesting to note that this digital way of working is bringing in new audiences. David and Elizabeth agreed that theatre will become a hybrid of both.
The hour went too fast and I had the feeling that both had more to say. For me it was a meaningful insight into a talented artist with questions asked by another talented artist. Asked which role Greig would prefer, he reluctantly come down on the side of the writer.
