Adam, by Francis Poet. Photography by Mihaela Bodlovic.
History
The foundation of the Scottish Society of Playwrights was the result of a meeting in the Netherbow Theatre, Edinburgh called by Hector MacMillan, Ena Lamont Stewart and John Hall in September 1973. At this initial meeting, the thirty or so playwrights present took the decision to establish the Society. Ian Brown was elected first Chair and was asked, with the help of Hector MacMillan and Ada F. Kay, to draft a constitution. This constitution was adopted at a subsequent meeting in the Third Eye Centre, Glasgow in November 1973, so formally founding the SSP. The Society was established in response to a need for a co-ordinated voice for playwrights to be heard in Scottish theatre and to act as a playwriting development and promotional agency.
In the first twelve years of its existence the SSP received funding from the Scottish Arts Council. This meant that, besides such tasks as negotiating the first national contract for playwrights with the Federation of Scottish Theatre - a process led by Hector MacMillan and Stephen MacDonald, then Director of Dundee Rep - and representing playwrights in dispute with theatre managements, the Society was able to act as a major development agency for playwrights.
During this period, based on the work of the US National Playwrights’ Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Center, it developed the form of playwrights’ workshops that is now recognised and has been used throughout the UK by such institutions as North West Playwrights Workshop and the Performing Arts Lab. It also published important, but neglected, texts, offered members at-cost copying and published a Newsletter which developed in time into Scottish Theatre News. It appointed administrators, firstly Linda Haase and later Charles Hart, who provided outstanding service - Linda Haase going on to help found the Tron Theatre and Charles Hart to be New Writing Officer of the Arts Council in England.
In 1984 the Scottish Arts Council rethought its funding priorities and decided to withdraw funding from what it called ’support services’ in favour of ‘direct provision’. It was impervious to the fact that support for playwrights through the SSP was in fact direct provision. At the time, the SSP advised the SAC that it would find it necessary in time to reinvent the work the Society had undertaken, especially in play and playwright development.
Nonetheless, in 1985, the SSP had to close down its lively and wide-ranging workshop, publishing and copying activities and concentrate on its primary role, representing the playwrights of Scotland. In 1986, with the Writers Guild and Theatre Writers Union, it negotiated its agreement with the Theatrical Management Association for the benefit of Scottish playwrights presenting work in England and Wales. Since then it has represented the interests of playwrights throughout Scotland and abroad, leading a successful playwrights’ strike in the early nineties and yet maintaining positive relations with theatre management organisations, north and south of the Border.
When Scottish Arts Council officers, Nikki Axford and, then, Jaine Lumsden proposed the initiative which was to lead to the establishment of Playwrights' Studio Scotland in 2004, the SSP's early work was the model explicitly discussed and, largely, adopted for the PSS by the committee planning it, which included playwrights Peter Arnott, Ian Brown and Tom McGrath.
The SSP continues to be more than simply a negotiating body. Over the years, for example, it produced the first authoritative Directory of Scottish Playwrights in 2001 and, in 2013, partnered with the Traverse Theatre in events with international participants, celebrating the latter's 50th anniversary and the SSP's 40th. It continues to present the case for playwrights, often working with PSS, in surveying playwrights needs and arguing their importance in Scotland's cultural life.
Ian Brown, 2013
In the first twelve years of its existence the SSP received funding from the Scottish Arts Council. This meant that, besides such tasks as negotiating the first national contract for playwrights with the Federation of Scottish Theatre - a process led by Hector MacMillan and Stephen MacDonald, then Director of Dundee Rep - and representing playwrights in dispute with theatre managements, the Society was able to act as a major development agency for playwrights.
During this period, based on the work of the US National Playwrights’ Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Center, it developed the form of playwrights’ workshops that is now recognised and has been used throughout the UK by such institutions as North West Playwrights Workshop and the Performing Arts Lab. It also published important, but neglected, texts, offered members at-cost copying and published a Newsletter which developed in time into Scottish Theatre News. It appointed administrators, firstly Linda Haase and later Charles Hart, who provided outstanding service - Linda Haase going on to help found the Tron Theatre and Charles Hart to be New Writing Officer of the Arts Council in England.
In 1984 the Scottish Arts Council rethought its funding priorities and decided to withdraw funding from what it called ’support services’ in favour of ‘direct provision’. It was impervious to the fact that support for playwrights through the SSP was in fact direct provision. At the time, the SSP advised the SAC that it would find it necessary in time to reinvent the work the Society had undertaken, especially in play and playwright development.
Nonetheless, in 1985, the SSP had to close down its lively and wide-ranging workshop, publishing and copying activities and concentrate on its primary role, representing the playwrights of Scotland. In 1986, with the Writers Guild and Theatre Writers Union, it negotiated its agreement with the Theatrical Management Association for the benefit of Scottish playwrights presenting work in England and Wales. Since then it has represented the interests of playwrights throughout Scotland and abroad, leading a successful playwrights’ strike in the early nineties and yet maintaining positive relations with theatre management organisations, north and south of the Border.
When Scottish Arts Council officers, Nikki Axford and, then, Jaine Lumsden proposed the initiative which was to lead to the establishment of Playwrights' Studio Scotland in 2004, the SSP's early work was the model explicitly discussed and, largely, adopted for the PSS by the committee planning it, which included playwrights Peter Arnott, Ian Brown and Tom McGrath.
The SSP continues to be more than simply a negotiating body. Over the years, for example, it produced the first authoritative Directory of Scottish Playwrights in 2001 and, in 2013, partnered with the Traverse Theatre in events with international participants, celebrating the latter's 50th anniversary and the SSP's 40th. It continues to present the case for playwrights, often working with PSS, in surveying playwrights needs and arguing their importance in Scotland's cultural life.
Ian Brown, 2013
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