Description: An exuberant "Ceilidh" play with scenes songs and music of Highland history from the clearances to the oil strike
Brief description: John McGrath spent his whole life campaigning for a popular theatre that was politically engaged, entertaining and relevant. His campaign took many forms, as a writer, director, and producer. Most famously he formed 7:84, a company named after the statistic that 7 per cent of the population of Britain owns 84 per cent of the nation's weath. He wrote and directed over sixty palys including The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black, Black Oil and Border Warfare. He died from leukaemia in January 2002.
Review Quotes:
"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