Scots on stage

Scots in it's many forms has offered a rich language for expression on the stage, in a tradition of drama going back to the 16th century.

Contemporary Scots theatre gained recongition in the 20th century with works such as Jamie the Saxt, Robert McLellan’s 1937 historical comedy written in Scots. Writers have continued to write for the stage in Scots right up to the present day including, Fraser Scott’s play 'Common Tongue', about a young woman growing up as a Scots speaker.

Contemporary theatre in Scots includes; Braw Clan, a Scots-language theatre company from Lanarkshire, Martin O’Connor’s Through the Shortbread Tin, performed in Scots, Gaelic and English, the Scots Opera Project, which has staged operas in Scots, including Dido an Aeneas.

Annual recognition for theatre in Scots includes Scots Stage Production o the Year and Scots Performer o the Year at the Scots Language Awards.

History of Scots on stage

Sir David Lyndsay’s Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, performed at Cupar in 1552, is one of the earliest surviving plays in Scots, Allan Ramsay’s pastoral comedy The Gentle Shepherd followed in 1725.

In the mid-20th century Robert McLellan, Alexander Reid and Alexander Scott wrote plays mainly or entirely in Scots, including Reid’s The Lass wi the Muckle Mou. Translation into Scots became a strand of its own from Robert Kemp’s Let Wives Tak Tent (1948), adapted from Molière, and continued with versions by Liz Lochhead, Edwin Morgan and others. Kemp’s adaptation of The Thrie Estaitis was staged at the 1948 Edinburgh Festival.

From the 1970s, playwrights including Bill Bryden, Roddy McMillan, Donald Campbell and John Byrne used Scots in plays such as Willie Rough (1972), The Bevellers (1973), The Jesuit (1976) and The Slab Boys (1978).