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A Scottish National Theatre - The Great Debate BeginsDateline: 14th September, 2003Here beginneth the great debate! Whilst there is remarkable near-unanimity about the concept of a non-building-based national theatre, there is a great deal of discussion going on in Scottish theatre circles at the moment about how the new SNT should operate and who should run it. There's more to it than being non-building-based: the new organisation is also expected to be non-company-based. In other words, it will act purely as a commissioning body, which means that the decision as to who runs it is even more important. And, incidentally, it means that it will be comletely different from any other National Theatre. A bold experiment, indeed! So how can this bold uniqueness be maintained? An artistic director plus adminstrator, or what is being called a "creative producer" and dramaturg? Far be it from me, a non-Scot, to intervene in the debate (although some years ago I was told by the Black Watch corporal of the guard at Edinburgh Castle that we north-easterners are "honorary Scots"), but an outsider's view can be, I think, helpful, so I'm going to do it anyway! The SCOTS-NITS email group - to join, send a blank email to SCOT-NITS-subscribe@yahoogroups.com - has been full of discussion about a possible leader and what you might call all the usual suspects have been suggested, chief among them Giles Havergal, recently retired from the joint directorship of the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow and someone who has made ity known that he has real reservations about the whole conept of a national theatre for Scotland. Others are trying to widen the pool: in an opinion article in The Herald, Mark Fisher wonders
One very interesting suggestion he makes (among many others) is to hand control over to playwrights Liz Lochhead, David Greig and Chris Hannan, "not just three of our best playwrights, but three of our most fertile thinkers?" Some are vociferous about the necessity for the proper representation of women and others point to the fact that many of the young, creative theatre people have to move away from Scotland to get work (something which exercises the theatre community in Wales, too, as a glance at the Theatre in Wales Forum shows clearly). Already, too, the leader of Aberdeen council has jumped in to suggest that city would be a better base than Glasgow. In other words, all the special interest groups are putting their oar in. And why not? The foundation of a national theatre is a unique opportunity in the cultural life of any nation and the widest possible debate is not only healthy but essential. Scotland has the opportunity to either follow the well-trodden path as exemplified by the RNT and other similar organisations in other countries, or to take a bold and innovative step into the unknown. I know which I think it ought to do! Why not have your say on this important topic in our Forum? Articles Indices:
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