0:00:02 > 0:00:05June 2016. A little after one o'clock in the morning.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09An expectant audience board buses which will take them
0:00:09 > 0:00:12into the Perthshire countryside to watch a play,
0:00:12 > 0:00:14The 306: Dawn.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22The location is not your usual theatrical establishment,
0:00:22 > 0:00:24this will be no ordinary piece of theatre.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29This is theatre without walls.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32This is the National Theatre of Scotland.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51The history of theatre in Scotland is long and rich.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Its legacy is apparent in the strength of Scotland's language,
0:00:56 > 0:00:57poetry and humour.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Already it's obvious that you're pleased to see me.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06For centuries, Scottish audiences have come together to laugh, sing,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08and share their stories.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13As a country, I think at our core we've got a really great, sort of,
0:01:13 > 0:01:15ability to just engage.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17We all tell a story. We all do a turn.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23These stories speak in the voice of a nation.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29A people with their own diverse, complicated, ever-changing culture.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Theatre in Scotland is like no other theatre in the world.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37They were standing,
0:01:37 > 0:01:42and their Queen was beautiful and tall and fair.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44And yet, until this century,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Scotland had never had a national theatre company.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52I know that the debate had been going on for a long time
0:01:52 > 0:01:57about what a national theatre would look like, what shape it would take.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59Will it be in Edinburgh or will it be in Glasgow?
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Maybe we should have it in Stirling?
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Is it going to be a big old building with pillars out the front,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06or will it be a new, neoclassical building
0:02:06 > 0:02:08with big pillars out the front?
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Scotland's got a very, very particular identity,
0:02:10 > 0:02:14which is music, it's politics, it's direct address.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Feasgar math.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19There's no fourth wall in great, Scottish theatre.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Scots kind of like getting right down to brass tacks.
0:02:23 > 0:02:24We're not afraid of singing.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27We're not afraid of standing up in the middle of the bar and,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29you know, singing your heart out.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31It's the immediacy of it, I think.
0:02:31 > 0:02:32When devolution emerged,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35then it became a much more serious notion.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40We did need to both capture and nourish and preserve,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44and promote a common kind of uniquely Scottish perspective.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49Then in 2004, after years of debate,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51the National Theatre of Scotland was established.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56I turned up in Glasgow and it was a rainy day.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01And genuinely walked into a completely empty office,
0:03:01 > 0:03:03no furniture at all.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08I remember going to the NTS on the very first day, I think,
0:03:08 > 0:03:09and Vicky was there.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14And she had literally Blu-Tacked to the door,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17you know, a white piece of paper that said,
0:03:17 > 0:03:18National Theatre of Scotland.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22That was my first day, while the rain hit the window outside.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24And it wasn't scary,
0:03:24 > 0:03:26but it was just a great realisation
0:03:26 > 0:03:29that there really was nothing at all.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32This was a moment to create a national theatre
0:03:32 > 0:03:35that had never really existed in that format before,
0:03:35 > 0:03:36and to create a theatre
0:03:36 > 0:03:39that was something about the people in Scotland,
0:03:39 > 0:03:41and the geography of Scotland, and the stories of Scotland
0:03:41 > 0:03:42at this moment in time.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45In a way, it's everything that I believed theatre to be,
0:03:45 > 0:03:47and should be. So it was thrilling.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53But how could a theatre company aspire
0:03:53 > 0:03:55to represent all Scottish theatre?
0:03:55 > 0:03:56All Scots?
0:03:56 > 0:03:58All of Scotland?
0:03:58 > 0:04:01When Vicky came up with the idea of Home,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03we all went, oh, wow.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06This is exactly right, as a calling card.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09This is the way to say hello to the world.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11To Scotland mainly, and then to the rest of the world.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Could you believe you long for an island?
0:04:15 > 0:04:17And you miss your home?
0:04:17 > 0:04:18I'd read somewhere that home
0:04:18 > 0:04:22was one of the most evocative words in the English language.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25And I just felt that it was a really interesting word in terms of
0:04:25 > 0:04:31Scotland, having a National Theatre of Scotland itself, what home meant.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32Yes.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Come through, here, son.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38So we got ten directors, all from Scotland,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40we'd place them in ten different locations
0:04:40 > 0:04:43from Shetland to the Borders, Glasgow, Edinburgh, all over.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46And then they worked with the community
0:04:46 > 0:04:51to come up with a piece of theatre which was inspired by the word home.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53So the idea was that the National Theatre of Scotland
0:04:53 > 0:04:57would start on one particular night in February 2006.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00A Saturday night. When all of these ten pieces would be on at once.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02And this is where the Theatre Without Walls came in,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06which is that we could create work anywhere, for anyone,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08as long as it was artist-led
0:05:08 > 0:05:11and about the stories the artists needed to tell.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13It was... As an idea, it was simple.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15And then I found myself...
0:05:17 > 0:05:20In Easterhouse, at the bottom of a tower block,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24trying to run a tech for abseilers coming down with video cameras.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28To a live audience, doing a piece of theatre.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Intercepted e-mail correspondent...
0:05:31 > 0:05:35That didn't feel quite as simple, but hell mend me, eh?
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the unique setting of
0:05:39 > 0:05:41the Highland football academy.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44It's almost time...
0:05:44 > 0:05:46The stories began with home,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49and soon another narrative seemed timely, even urgent.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51The story of young Scottish soldiers,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53a very long way from their homes.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58Ladies and gentlemen, may we present the Black Watch.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Welcome to this story of the Black Watch, eh?
0:06:07 > 0:06:10The reason we had the idea of Black Watch was that,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13when I started in Hope Street on the 1st of November 2004,
0:06:13 > 0:06:15the newsagent, I went downstairs to the newsagent,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18and I bought the Herald and the Scotsman, obviously.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22And the first page of the Herald was an article
0:06:22 > 0:06:24saying that Tony Blair was trying to disband
0:06:24 > 0:06:27the Black Watch regiment and put all of the Scottish regiments
0:06:27 > 0:06:29into one thing called the Scottish Regiment.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32And then on page three, so two pages on,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35there was a little sidebar article
0:06:35 > 0:06:38which was talking about two young men,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41two 17-year-olds from the Black Watch regiment,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44and the tone of the article was about their pride
0:06:44 > 0:06:46and their family's pride how their fathers and grandfathers
0:06:46 > 0:06:49had been part of the Black Watch regiment,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51and they'd been killed in an IED, in Iraq,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54and what this meant to the community and the tragedy of that.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57And I thought, my God, in a way,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01theatre is about the gap between two things.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04And I thought, if ever there is the possibility of a piece of theatre,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07it's between those - literally, physically -
0:07:07 > 0:07:08between those two pages.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10I definitely fancy it. What the fuck else are we going to dae?
0:07:10 > 0:07:12I cannae be arsed with the pits any more.
0:07:12 > 0:07:13Aye, the pits are fucked.
0:07:15 > 0:07:16ALL: Where do we sign?
0:07:16 > 0:07:18Oh-ho-ho...
0:07:18 > 0:07:20OMINOUS PIANO
0:07:24 > 0:07:26# In Forfar I was born and bred
0:07:28 > 0:07:32# But faith, I d' think shame, sir
0:07:32 > 0:07:36# To tell the weary life I led
0:07:36 > 0:07:40# A'fore I left my hame, sir
0:07:40 > 0:07:45# Hurrah, hurrah, wi' my tilt a fal air al aye doh... #
0:07:45 > 0:07:48John Tiffany's got an incredible capacity for sentiment
0:07:48 > 0:07:50in the most positive way.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53And understanding, you know, why we need story,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55and where that comes from.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58# Hurrah, hurrah, wi' my tilt a fal air al aye doh... #
0:07:58 > 0:08:00So he really was somebody who celebrated
0:08:00 > 0:08:02those Scottish traditions and the music.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04He was consciously bringing all of those things
0:08:04 > 0:08:06which he felt was so important,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09and actually were slightly waning at the time, because they were
0:08:09 > 0:08:12no longer fashionable, into Black Watch, into telling that story.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16# Wi' my tilt a fal air al aye doh. #
0:08:16 > 0:08:19I thought we would be the ruin of the National Theatre, genuinely.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21I found myself in a rehearsal room having said to Greg,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23you can do these interviews with -
0:08:23 > 0:08:25over there in Fife, they happened -
0:08:25 > 0:08:28you can do these interviews with six soldiers who had
0:08:28 > 0:08:30just come back from their second tour of Iraq.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33But I want to do a collage,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37so that it's not a, kind of, traditionally structured new play.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23RADIO NEWS REPORT CRACKLES INTO LIFE
0:09:23 > 0:09:26'..it's ten past eight. There was deep concern, anger indeed,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28'when the news leaked out a few weeks ago
0:09:28 > 0:09:30'that soldiers of the Black Watch were to be sent north
0:09:30 > 0:09:32'to help out the Americans in Iraq.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35'The area in which they were to be deployed
0:09:35 > 0:09:38'was described here as the Triangle of Death.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40'So it has turned out for three of them,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42'blown up yesterday by a suicide car bomber.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44'Eight more were injured. The ambush...'
0:09:44 > 0:09:46The first time I heard about the play
0:09:46 > 0:09:48was through a friend of mine.
0:09:48 > 0:09:54I went with a bit of trepidation, thinking, actors playing us,
0:09:54 > 0:09:56and then the scene with the pool table,
0:09:56 > 0:09:58where the bayonet comes through.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01I think that was that moment of realisation
0:10:01 > 0:10:04that there was something special about this play.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07We watched one of the first run-throughs,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10and I choke up even saying it now, because I sat there,
0:10:10 > 0:10:11and I thought, "Oh, my God -
0:10:11 > 0:10:14"something's happened which makes me believe in theatre again."
0:10:14 > 0:10:16Aye, hold on!
0:10:16 > 0:10:18I think they've found something in this car.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22I hope it's porn!
0:10:22 > 0:10:24EXPLOSION
0:10:33 > 0:10:35A GAELIC LAMENT FADES IN
0:10:48 > 0:10:51'Mother uniform 3362
0:10:51 > 0:10:52'P4.'
0:10:52 > 0:10:55What Black Watch did, you know, when it first came out,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58at the Fringe in 2006,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01it was, obviously, there was a bit of turmoil going on with the
0:11:01 > 0:11:04seven Scottish regiments and what was happening with amalgamations.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06It did bring a focus.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09It did bring a community focus of, we want to keep our regiment,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11you know, we want to keep our identity.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13I fought for my regiment.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15I fought for my company.
0:11:15 > 0:11:16I fought for my platoon.
0:11:16 > 0:11:17I fought for my section.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20I fought for my mates.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23And that was important to everybody, and it still is.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27It still is to me, as an ex-serving Black Watch soldier.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31And to probably ex-servicemen, soldiers 20, 30 years before me.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33We will always class ourselves as Black Watch.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37And we'll always class ourselves as 1st Battalion.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03I'm so glad that we were able to honour those lads.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07ALL: Five, six, seven, eight!
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Very deep in my, kind of, soul is something
0:12:10 > 0:12:13which I feel honoured to have been able to tell their story.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15And I know Gregory Burke feels the same.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26The thing that I always found really tragic about Black Watch
0:12:26 > 0:12:28was that it was so universal.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31And that also, it was still so relevant, oddly,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34for us to be able to keep touring it year after year.
0:12:34 > 0:12:35That was actually a great tragedy,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39that we hadn't learned from it and it was still important,
0:12:39 > 0:12:40and it still is.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46EXPLOSION
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Black Watch went where generations of Scots themselves had gone before,
0:12:55 > 0:12:56all over the world.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59It was an eclectic and confident calling card.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01Heralding a year of diverse and innovative productions.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05The National Theatre of Scotland had arrived.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12And in that same year, they staged a production that represented another
0:13:12 > 0:13:14strong strand of Scotland's theatrical tradition.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19It was a well-known, well-loved story,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22with songs everyone could sing along to.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Scottish audiences welcomed the return
0:13:27 > 0:13:29of Danny McGlone and Suzi Kettles
0:13:29 > 0:13:34as John Byrne's cult television show, Tutti Frutti, hit the stage.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37# But should we be apart
0:13:37 > 0:13:39# I really love you, baby... #
0:13:48 > 0:13:49Tah-da!
0:13:51 > 0:13:52The King's Theatre.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54Wow, ten years. It's funny, isn't it,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57seeing it without all the tabs and the side bits and...
0:13:57 > 0:13:59It looks way bigger. It looks massive.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Ten years, that's ridiculous!
0:14:03 > 0:14:05There was a huge hunger for Tutti Frutti.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08It had been so huge in Scotland.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11I was about 17 or 18 when it came out
0:14:11 > 0:14:14and I remember absolutely worshipping the show.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22In 20 years, it hadn't been seen nor heard of,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26and it became almost like a, kind of, Scottish folklore.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28"Tutti Frutti, do you remember Tutti Frutti?"
0:14:28 > 0:14:29Danny?
0:14:31 > 0:14:32Danny McGlone?
0:14:34 > 0:14:36I thought you were supposed to be in New York.
0:14:36 > 0:14:37It's me.
0:14:40 > 0:14:41Suzi Kettles.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46People liked it for the nostalgia as well.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49That's a big John Byrne thing.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52I'm going to hold my hands up, when I first read the script I was,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55like, some of it, I didn't get.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57It's from my nana's kind of era.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59You know, going up the dancing and cutting a rug,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01and all that kind of stuff.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03And I think that's what people love about it,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06that it's from a bygone time.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08You know, it reminds them of their nana,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10and of, "Oh, yeah, my grandad and his quiff,"
0:15:10 > 0:15:12you know, it reminds me of all that.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16# Dum, dum, dum, dummy-doo-wah
0:15:16 > 0:15:20# Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
0:15:20 > 0:15:25# Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-ooh-ah
0:15:25 > 0:15:28# Only the lonely
0:15:29 > 0:15:31# Only the lonely. #
0:15:31 > 0:15:33People remembered lines.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38These John Byrne-isms that were so memorable from the TV show,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41that hadn't been in popular culture for 20 years,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44still remained in the audience's mind.
0:15:46 > 0:15:47What you mean, it was OK?
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Three minutes is a lot better than a lot of guys could manage
0:15:52 > 0:15:53coming straight off a Silver Jubilee tour.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55And it was more like five minutes,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58I can see the alarm clock from this side of the bed.
0:15:58 > 0:15:59I'm not always a disaster.
0:16:01 > 0:16:02Is that you finished? See, there you go again,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05that's twice you've asked that in the past three minutes.
0:16:05 > 0:16:06Correction, five minutes.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10John Byrne was in the rehearsal room,
0:16:10 > 0:16:12and he had a manual typewriter,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and you'd see him watching what you were doing.
0:16:15 > 0:16:16Every so often you'd hear...
0:16:16 > 0:16:18HE MAKES A TYPING NOISE
0:16:18 > 0:16:21And you'd go... Oh, I've not said that right.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23And then he would come up at the end of the scene
0:16:23 > 0:16:25and hand you bit of paper, and go...
0:16:25 > 0:16:26"Try that."
0:16:26 > 0:16:28And you'd look at it and go, "Ah!
0:16:28 > 0:16:30"Absolute genius."
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Ladies and gentlemen...
0:16:33 > 0:16:34..The Majestics!
0:16:34 > 0:16:36# Bop bopa-a-lu a whop bam boo
0:16:36 > 0:16:38# Tutti frutti, oh, Rudy
0:16:38 > 0:16:40# Tutti frutti, oh, Rudy... #
0:16:40 > 0:16:43They're not a great band.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46They weren't meant to be this, kind of, polished, you know,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49brilliant band. It's this dysfunctional band.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51So even though it was a bit rough around the edges,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53you had to just keep thinking,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55"Well, this is real and this is what it would be like."
0:16:55 > 0:16:59They wanted it to be raw and live, and done every night,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03so it wasn't some track that you were miming to.
0:17:05 > 0:17:06# Yeah!
0:17:06 > 0:17:08# Tutti frutti, oh, Rudy... #
0:17:08 > 0:17:11It was a complete and utter joy from start to finish.
0:17:11 > 0:17:12It was odd,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15it was... Fun. ..fun.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Quite scary.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19But really, really, exciting at the same time.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Yeah, you knew you were part of something special.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27Yeah. I think. With the NTS, but especially with Tutti Frutti.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31# Bop bopa-a-lu a whop bam boo. #
0:17:31 > 0:17:33APPLAUSE
0:17:38 > 0:17:39Gathered in a theatre,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Scots rarely reflect the dour image often projected
0:17:42 > 0:17:44onto the national character.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Nor has the Scottish character been adequately expressed
0:17:47 > 0:17:49through macho stereotype.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52A richer, glittering persona
0:17:52 > 0:17:56has always had its flamboyant voice on our stages, too.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58In 2007, its incarnation
0:17:58 > 0:18:02was Alan Cummings' rock god, Dionysius, in The Bacchae.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09It started with me being lowered, by my ankles,
0:18:09 > 0:18:14with my back to the audience, like a god, descending.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17I had a gold kilt outfit on and so basically, you know,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21the first thing was my bum at the beginning of the Bacchae.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23It's an inverted cross.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Which didn't escape me.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27And then David wrote this line for Alan.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29So, Thebes...
0:18:32 > 0:18:34..I'm back!
0:18:34 > 0:18:37I hadn't appeared on a Scottish stage for 16 years.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40It was a ballsy thing to do. It was a ballsy decision,
0:18:40 > 0:18:41it was a ballsy kind of start.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45For your benefit, I appear in human form.
0:18:45 > 0:18:46Like you...
0:18:46 > 0:18:48fleshy.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Man, woman - it was a close-run thing.
0:18:51 > 0:18:57He decided to make Dionysius this kind of returning rock star.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59The music was very kind of, um...
0:18:59 > 0:19:03rousing and anthemy when Dionysius sang
0:19:03 > 0:19:05and when the girls backed him up.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08And there's nothing like, you know,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11playing a god, singing your head off,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14being backed up by nine gorgeous black girls.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16It doesn't get much better than that.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19# We are the Bacchae!
0:19:19 > 0:19:22# We left our homes
0:19:22 > 0:19:26# To give ourselves to him
0:19:26 > 0:19:29# It's free work
0:19:29 > 0:19:31# It's easy work
0:19:31 > 0:19:33# You! You!
0:19:33 > 0:19:36# You stand quiet
0:19:36 > 0:19:40# In front of your houses
0:19:40 > 0:19:47# Kneel down
0:19:47 > 0:19:49# For Dionysus... #
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Gospel is the facilitator of religious ecstasy
0:19:52 > 0:19:53in such a brilliant, brilliant way.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56So we'd always wanted that kind of energy.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Aretha Franklin, you know, through to Whitney Huston.
0:19:59 > 0:20:05That kind of amazing power of sexuality - black, female power -
0:20:05 > 0:20:07was what we wanted to tap into.
0:20:07 > 0:20:08# Do it, do it, do it
0:20:08 > 0:20:10# Let's scream demands
0:20:10 > 0:20:13# Let's scream demands, everyone in the land
0:20:13 > 0:20:14# Everyone must dance
0:20:14 > 0:20:17# Everyone in the land must dance to the mountain
0:20:17 > 0:20:19# Everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone in the land
0:20:19 > 0:20:23# Must dance to the mountain, where the women wait
0:20:23 > 0:20:25# Joy! Joy!
0:20:25 > 0:20:29# Joy to you who come
0:20:29 > 0:20:31# To the mountain... #
0:20:31 > 0:20:33I loved the fact that music
0:20:33 > 0:20:35was such a big element of The Bacchae.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38I mean, there is always singing in that show,
0:20:38 > 0:20:42but taking a sort of contemporary style and putting it into a play,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46so that you merge both the ancient and the modern.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49That's what makes exciting theatre.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52And I think that's what Scottish theatre's always done, actually.
0:20:52 > 0:20:53# Yes, we flow with milk
0:20:53 > 0:20:55# Yes, we flow with wine
0:20:55 > 0:20:57# Yes, we are made of honey... #
0:20:57 > 0:21:00I think in Scotland, in general, we've got quite a good,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04healthy connection with bacchanalia in all its forms.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06We're quite sensual people.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08We all enjoy drinking, we all enjoy letting go.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10It's part of our culture.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Having been away from Scotland so much of my adult life,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18I really think I understand what makes me Scottish
0:21:18 > 0:21:21and what makes which parts of my style of performing
0:21:21 > 0:21:23come from Scottish theatre.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25A lot of it is to do with, kind of,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29breaking the fourth wall and using music
0:21:29 > 0:21:33and connecting with the audience in a very direct way.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36As a country, we all tell a story, we all do a turn.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39I think, at our core, we've got a really great sort of ability
0:21:39 > 0:21:44to just engage and, you know, do our turn.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46That's what I've been doing all these years.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48# Yes! Yes!
0:21:48 > 0:21:51# Yeeesssss! #
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Scotland's National Theatre was starting to find its place.
0:21:58 > 0:21:59Some of what it did broke new ground.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03Some strengthened older traditions.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08Other aspects of Scottish experience had yet to be addressed.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11But there is one constant in the life of any theatre company,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14a continual argument as to the value of creative arts.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19In 2008, the UK had entered another recession.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23And the argument had to be made for the necessity
0:22:23 > 0:22:26of bringing live theatre to every part of a nation.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32Often the best argument that can be made is to do so,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34and demonstrate its effect.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37The National Theatre of Scotland
0:22:37 > 0:22:41took a wide range of its productions to the furthest venues in the land.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44One of these was Long Gone Lonesome,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46the story of Shetland's Thomas Fraser.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52I was approached by the National Theatre of Scotland
0:22:52 > 0:22:54round about 2008.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57They asked me if I'd ever heard of Thomas Fraser.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00I said, "What, you mean the singing creelman from Shetland?
0:23:00 > 0:23:02"Yeah, I've heard of him."
0:23:04 > 0:23:06The opening scene, for me, was fantastic.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12They put on a simple reel-to-reel player, like Thomas had,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and it was all dark. The only thing lit was the machine.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19And out came My Melancholy Blues.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22And it was the closest thing you'll ever get
0:23:22 > 0:23:24to a live Thomas Fraser performance.
0:23:24 > 0:23:30TINNY RECORDING: # Because I got those melancholy blues... #
0:23:30 > 0:23:33He was a very shy performer in his younger days.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38So, latterly, when I was growing up, he wasn't performing any more.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40But he was still doing his tapes.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43And people would give him blank tapes
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and ask him to record for them.
0:23:46 > 0:23:47There was a lot of that.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Almost all the theatre pieces I've ever written
0:23:52 > 0:23:55have been simple, straightforward
0:23:55 > 0:23:59and about establishing that direct contact with the audience.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01So, when electricity arrived in Burra,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04what was the first thing that Thomas Fraser -
0:24:04 > 0:24:06a 26-year-old bachelor, crofter,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09fisherman, fiddler, would-be singer -
0:24:09 > 0:24:12what was the first thing he rushed out to buy?
0:24:12 > 0:24:15So when I started to work with Vicky Featherstone,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19my natural inclination towards direct address
0:24:19 > 0:24:23and her natural inclination towards finding something stripped down,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26and immediately effective,
0:24:26 > 0:24:27these two things came together.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30We were singing off the same hymn sheet.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33It was the latest in cutting-edge technology -
0:24:33 > 0:24:35a reel-to-reel tape recorder.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38I think my favourite moment of the play
0:24:38 > 0:24:40is where we hear Thomas singing.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45And he's singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow, which is a surprising song.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48It's a showtune, it's a Hollywood number.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51TAPE: # Somewhere
0:24:51 > 0:24:55# Over the rainbow... #
0:24:55 > 0:24:56Most of the time,
0:24:56 > 0:24:58he did down-to-earth blues or heartfelt country songs,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01and here he is doing a Judy Garland number.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04But he's got a fantastically inventive arrangement for it,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and it becomes almost like soul music.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09# ..once in a lullaby
0:25:11 > 0:25:15# Somewhere
0:25:15 > 0:25:17# Over the rainbow... #
0:25:17 > 0:25:22And then, me and the band join in, backing him up.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24So instead of just being Thomas and his acoustic guitar,
0:25:24 > 0:25:25he's got a whole band behind him.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29And then I had to join in singing harmonies to his lead vocals.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32# Someday I'll wish upon a star
0:25:32 > 0:25:36# And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
0:25:37 > 0:25:40# Oh, yeah...
0:25:41 > 0:25:44It was sort of surreal but, um...
0:25:45 > 0:25:47..really, really well done.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51And we enjoyed, you know, we enjoyed every minute of it.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56I felt that the National Theatre's play really made a terrific job
0:25:56 > 0:25:59of putting Thomas Fraser across.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03His personality, his musical ability,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07the environment and the circumstances he faced.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11I was very proud. It was a great moment for us.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13A great moment for Thomas.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Every song in the play was one that Thomas recorded,
0:26:19 > 0:26:24sometimes favourite numbers of his that he recorded many times.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26But, as I was writing the play, I...
0:26:28 > 0:26:30..struggled to find a song that would sum up everything
0:26:30 > 0:26:33that had come before, or at least sum up everything
0:26:33 > 0:26:36I'd come to understand about his character.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39And I was searching around, thinking,
0:26:39 > 0:26:43"In all these hundreds of numbers he recorded, there must be one."
0:26:43 > 0:26:44And I couldn't find one.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48But then I did stumble across a song
0:26:48 > 0:26:51that felt like he should have recorded it.
0:26:51 > 0:26:57# I don't want to set the world on fire... #
0:26:58 > 0:27:00It's about somebody who has
0:27:00 > 0:27:04no ambition for worldly fame or fortune,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07he just wants to light a flame in one person's heart,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09the person he loves.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11But I felt that's what Thomas was doing with his music.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14He has no interest in going to the London Palladium.
0:27:14 > 0:27:15He wanted to record his songs,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19or play them to one or two people who were in the room with him.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22And he would light the flame of music in their heart.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25# I've got no ambition
0:27:25 > 0:27:27# For worldly acclaim
0:27:27 > 0:27:31# I just want to be the one you love
0:27:31 > 0:27:33# And with your admission
0:27:33 > 0:27:35# You'd feel the same
0:27:35 > 0:27:41# I have reached the goal I'm dreaming of...
0:27:41 > 0:27:43I think there's lots of untold stories out there,
0:27:43 > 0:27:45lots of local heroes.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47I think the National Theatre are doing a great job
0:27:47 > 0:27:51in taking these stories out to the wider world.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55# ..a flame in your heart. #
0:28:01 > 0:28:05The National Theatre of Scotland was now five years old.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Its slogan, Theatre Without Walls, had been realised in many forms
0:28:09 > 0:28:13while always recognising particular Scottish theatrical traditions.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19I killed him!
0:28:20 > 0:28:23And in 2011, the very particular nature
0:28:23 > 0:28:26of Scottish political identity was soon to become clear.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32History demonstrates that Scotland has often made different choices
0:28:32 > 0:28:34to her southern neighbours.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37We shall bring forward a referendum,
0:28:37 > 0:28:41and trust the people with Scotland's own constitutional future.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45And as those tensions became increasingly evident,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49the National Theatre looked back to the culture of our borderlands
0:28:49 > 0:28:51with The Strange Undoing Of Prudencia Hart.
0:28:52 > 0:28:59# I heard twa corbies makin a mane
0:29:01 > 0:29:06# The tane unto the other did say
0:29:06 > 0:29:10# "Oh, whar sall we gang..." #
0:29:10 > 0:29:15Vicky said to us, she wanted to do something about the Borders
0:29:15 > 0:29:17and I knew about Border ballads
0:29:17 > 0:29:20and so she sent us to Kelso,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23where we stayed for a couple of days
0:29:23 > 0:29:26and interviewed various people.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30We went to the pub and there was a folk session.
0:29:30 > 0:29:36And a huge amount of that two days ended up in the play.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40# His hawk is tae the huntin gane
0:29:40 > 0:29:44# His hound tae fetch the wild-fowl hame
0:29:44 > 0:29:49# His lady's tain anither mate
0:29:49 > 0:29:54# So we may mak oor dinner swate
0:29:54 > 0:30:01# So we may mak oor dinner swate. #
0:30:02 > 0:30:05I wanted to make a story that you could...
0:30:05 > 0:30:09A yarn, you know, something you could sit and tell over a pint.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11It's difficult to know where to start
0:30:11 > 0:30:15With the strange undoing of Prudencia Hart.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19Then the act of translating that into rhyming couplets
0:30:19 > 0:30:23was a means of harnessing that story's power.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27And storytelling, that most misused of all arts.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30Horses absolutely must not go ahead of carts.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33There's a central idea as well, which we were both driven by,
0:30:33 > 0:30:36which was the theatricality of the troupe.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41The travelling band of actors, who have, at their fingertips,
0:30:41 > 0:30:45the skills of song, music, storytelling, mime, gesture.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50Prudencia Hart, then, was a prudent 28-year-old postgraduate student.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53And, indeed, you know, the ability
0:30:53 > 0:30:55to create set and theatricality out of nothing.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58And you think of it in Scottish terms,
0:30:58 > 0:31:02it goes back through Communicado and Gerry Mulgrew's work,
0:31:02 > 0:31:04It goes back through 7:84.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06It's the folk tradition of theatricality.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11CRACKLY, INDISTINCT HUMMING OF A BALLAD
0:31:11 > 0:31:12This is nice. Nice?
0:31:12 > 0:31:15It's Robert Burns.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18Oh? It's sung by Robert Burns.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20That's Burns' own voice.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24In a pub, in Mauchline, in 1789.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28I found the record under a pile of lectures by Hume,
0:31:28 > 0:31:31in a box labelled "pornographic etchings".
0:31:31 > 0:31:33LAUGHTER
0:31:33 > 0:31:36And so I think, to me, that way of storytelling,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39where you mix all these forms together,
0:31:39 > 0:31:40yes, it's a really Scottish tradition,
0:31:40 > 0:31:44and I feel very proud that we appear to be, sort of,
0:31:44 > 0:31:45cornering a market in it,
0:31:45 > 0:31:47but at the same time I don't think it's just Scottish.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49I think it's absolutely universal.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53As, I think, is attested to the fact that Prudencia has been able
0:31:53 > 0:31:57to tour the world to similar responses wherever it's been.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01# I just
0:32:01 > 0:32:05# Can't get you out
0:32:05 > 0:32:07# Of my head
0:32:10 > 0:32:13# Oh, your loving
0:32:14 > 0:32:18# Is all I think about... #
0:32:19 > 0:32:21It was a wonderful, wonderful experience.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23It was really very, very enjoyable.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26It's a beautifully anarchic piece of work.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29Oh, yeah. There's so much energy.
0:32:29 > 0:32:30# La-la-la, la-la la-la-la... #
0:32:30 > 0:32:32Everybody was drawn into the action.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36I think it's a marvellous piece of work.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38I think the best thing about it, it's theatre for everybody.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41It's not a theatre for people that live in the big city
0:32:41 > 0:32:44or have access to those facilities.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54It's taken drama and taken it where it should be,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57which is at the heart of a community.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59And getting people involved.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02Which they certainly were tonight.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04CHEERING
0:33:15 > 0:33:17A GAELIC REEL IS SUNG
0:33:21 > 0:33:24Scots song, Scots story and Scots poetry.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28A National Theatre inherits a responsibility
0:33:28 > 0:33:31to represent all the voices of the nation.
0:33:31 > 0:33:32In its brief life,
0:33:32 > 0:33:36the company has only begun to wrestle with that gigantic task.
0:33:38 > 0:33:40But it has frequently honoured
0:33:40 > 0:33:43another ancient Scottish theatrical tradition -
0:33:43 > 0:33:45producing work which highlights social issues
0:33:45 > 0:33:47and challenges political power.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52The true story of the Glasgow Girls' fight for justice
0:33:52 > 0:33:54for families seeking asylum in the city
0:33:54 > 0:33:57had captured the attention of the nation.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01Now it was given theatrical form.
0:34:03 > 0:34:04My name's Agnesa.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06In March 2005, I was detained
0:34:06 > 0:34:10and taken to Jarlswood detention centre from these flats.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Then one day, there was an empty seat on the bus.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19Aggie? Agnesa? Where's Agnesa gone?!
0:34:19 > 0:34:21LOUD THUDS
0:34:21 > 0:34:24'..Home Office Border Agency health and safety report.'
0:34:24 > 0:34:27'Dawn raid, Glasgow, 2005.'
0:34:27 > 0:34:29She'd been living in Glasgow for five years at that time.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33And for her to be treated so cruelly was just really inhumane.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36I think we all felt really, like, angry and upset.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41We were crying our eyes out in the corridor of our school.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44That one of our friends was just taken away.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46I felt really angry. I felt as though
0:34:46 > 0:34:50it wasn't really the kind of impression of our country
0:34:50 > 0:34:51that I wanted to give.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53We want to help. It's just not right.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55I can't believe this is happening in Scotland.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57You want to help? I know we don't know you guys that well,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00but Agnesa's one of us now. We can't just let folk take her away.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03If you're on strike for Agnesa, we're on strike, too.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06I'd been very aware of the story, way back in 2005.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08I thought this story -
0:35:08 > 0:35:11particularly because it's led by a group of teenage girls
0:35:11 > 0:35:14that just have a passion for life
0:35:14 > 0:35:19and a kind of defiance and a kind of fearlessness -
0:35:19 > 0:35:24I thought, "This deserves a bigger, bolder, more popular form."
0:35:24 > 0:35:27And I thought that a musical was the best way to do that.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29I just looked at her and thought, "What?"
0:35:29 > 0:35:31And she's like, "A musical." And I was like,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34"Do you know what our story's about? It's about child detention.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36"How are you going to make a musical about that?"
0:35:36 > 0:35:38If you've come to see triumph over adversity,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41I'm afraid you're going to be a little bit disappointed.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Our story is mostly about photocopying.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Amal! What?
0:35:46 > 0:35:48I must have burst out laughing, I mean,
0:35:48 > 0:35:50how on Earth she was going to turn our story
0:35:50 > 0:35:53about seven wee lasses from Drumchapel
0:35:53 > 0:35:57campaigning for the rights of child refugees, I didn't know.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59But she did a wonderful job.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03And the way it turned out, it's kind of like a love letter to Glasgow.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06# We're at home in Glasgow
0:36:06 > 0:36:09# It's really not that bad
0:36:09 > 0:36:13# There's bits of the city that are pretty shitty
0:36:13 > 0:36:16# But at least it's not Baghdad
0:36:17 > 0:36:21# We're at home in Glasgow
0:36:21 > 0:36:24# We're getting on quite well
0:36:24 > 0:36:28# They say it's a hard and a difficult place
0:36:28 > 0:36:30# But trust us
0:36:30 > 0:36:34# They know nothing
0:36:34 > 0:36:36# About hell... #
0:36:36 > 0:36:39I had been developing close relationships with the girls.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42I'd absolutely vowed I would involve them at every stage of the way.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44And we stuck to our word.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47Let's just go over Emma and Jennifer arriving in.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52At the end of a long week where I'd been working
0:36:52 > 0:36:55with all the actresses, the girls walked into the room,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59and at that point are actresses were right in the middle of singing
0:36:59 > 0:37:01a five-part harmony of what was to be the anthem,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03We Are The Glasgow Girls.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05# We are the Glasgow girls
0:37:05 > 0:37:07# We show them how to do it when we... #
0:37:07 > 0:37:09And the real girls came into the room
0:37:09 > 0:37:12and I think they were quite blown away by it.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14# The Glasgow girls together, we are strong... #
0:37:14 > 0:37:16We all started crying, and they cried,
0:37:16 > 0:37:18and nobody knew why everybody was crying,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21but it was a great feeling.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25When I seen my actress, I was like, "Oh, my God.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29"She's actually just like me, she just acts the way I act."
0:37:29 > 0:37:32I was quite shocked that Cora picked the individuals
0:37:32 > 0:37:33for the right people.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38And I got to a stage where I was like, a bit emotional,
0:37:38 > 0:37:42because it took me back to when I was detained.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE
0:37:58 > 0:38:01The music really captures your emotions.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Especially if you don't know the story, as you go along with it,
0:38:06 > 0:38:09and you listen to the story, the music's in the background.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11People that have never really known about it
0:38:11 > 0:38:13then understand the feelings that are there.
0:38:13 > 0:38:14# We are the Glasgow Girls
0:38:14 > 0:38:16# We'll show them how to do it... #
0:38:16 > 0:38:18Teenagers get a really bad press.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21I think we underestimate their skill and their bravery.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Here was a bunch of girls who wanted to be lawyers,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26who wanted to be activists, who wanted to, literally,
0:38:26 > 0:38:30go out and grab the world and change it and make it better.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33# Glasgow Girls will show them how to do it... #
0:38:33 > 0:38:36If seven Glasgow girls can make a difference, then anybody can.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38Especially coming from Drumchapel as well.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40# We are the Glasgow Girls! #
0:38:46 > 0:38:48After seven years, a new stage
0:38:48 > 0:38:51of the National Theatre of Scotland's existence began
0:38:51 > 0:38:54as Laurie Sansome took up the position of artistic director.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00One of his first jobs was to grapple with how to respond
0:39:00 > 0:39:04to a much anticipated vote, when, in 2014,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07the nation was asked to make a historic decision.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Hey, girls. What youse talking about?
0:39:10 > 0:39:12The referendum. Oh, God.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14The National Theatre of Scotland produced a timely
0:39:14 > 0:39:17theatrical response, with a whole range of productions
0:39:17 > 0:39:20as the community of Scotland made up its mind.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25With independence, we will be a fairer and more successful country.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34A time when Scotland was struggling to reach consensus
0:39:34 > 0:39:37on the strength of her desire for independence.
0:39:37 > 0:39:39When she was alternately threatened
0:39:39 > 0:39:41and wooed by her powerful southern neighbour.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45When her own internal divisions seemed likely to erupt.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53Not 2014, but 1424.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00The James Plays Trilogy demonstrated that the history being made now
0:40:00 > 0:40:02had deep and familiar roots.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07Cos I'm a bit passionate about Scottish history,
0:40:07 > 0:40:12it became my ambition to try and make that period of Scottish history
0:40:12 > 0:40:14visible to Scotland.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17Whenever I've talked to any audience or any group,
0:40:17 > 0:40:19they all say, with this note of apology,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22"Of course, I don't know anything about this period of history."
0:40:22 > 0:40:23Well, the truth is, nobody does.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26And I think that, particularly at the time I was writing,
0:40:26 > 0:40:31was a moment when Scotland was examining what it was as a nation.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33And it felt like a really fertile moment
0:40:33 > 0:40:36to bring these plays to the stage.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38Sorry, are you still...?
0:40:38 > 0:40:39What?
0:40:39 > 0:40:42I don't want to disturb your prayers. Oh, no. I'm finished.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45I was waiting on you. Good. No, I'm finished.
0:40:47 > 0:40:48So...
0:40:49 > 0:40:52..now we're married. Yes.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55We'll have the wedding blessed again in Scotland,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58and then we can have our wedding night. Yes.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02The characters all talk a very contemporary form of Scots,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05so that people could really get that sense of,
0:41:05 > 0:41:07this, in a sense, is happening now.
0:41:07 > 0:41:08Or is still happening now.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11We're still connected to these lives,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14and they're still affecting decisions we make today.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16I asked to see the Treasury papers.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18Why? Because someone has to start helping you.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Have you looked at these? God, no. There is no money, James.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24A choir, Margaret, a few singers.
0:41:24 > 0:41:25How many?
0:41:26 > 0:41:29A small choir. How many? Only 40 or so. No.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31I wrote Queen Margaret of Denmark,
0:41:31 > 0:41:33and every time anyone talked about casting,
0:41:33 > 0:41:34I went, "Yeah, Sofie Grabol."
0:41:34 > 0:41:37And everyone's going, "Yeah, right. Like you're going..."
0:41:37 > 0:41:39And I was going, "Ask her! Ask her! Just ask her!"
0:41:39 > 0:41:41And they did. And she said yes.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46I must say, when the project was presented to me,
0:41:46 > 0:41:50I thought, "I don't have the nerve to do that."
0:41:50 > 0:41:53Because, I mean, one thing is to...
0:41:54 > 0:41:58..to take on a great part, a big part.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00But in another language than your own?
0:42:01 > 0:42:03But then I read it.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Who would want the job of ruling Scotland?
0:42:07 > 0:42:12I'm Danish, you ignorant, abusive lump of manure.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17I come from a rational nation with reasonable people.
0:42:19 > 0:42:20You know the problem with you lot?
0:42:21 > 0:42:24You've got fuck all except attitude.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28You scream and shout about how you want things done,
0:42:28 > 0:42:32and how things ought to be done, and when the chance comes?
0:42:32 > 0:42:33Look at you.
0:42:35 > 0:42:36What are you frightened of?
0:42:36 > 0:42:38Making things worse?
0:42:38 > 0:42:40I remember actually,
0:42:40 > 0:42:45when she said, "You've got fuck all except attitude,"
0:42:45 > 0:42:47I remember the reaction in Edinburgh,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51in the Festival Theatre, was so massive.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55And very often people applauded.
0:42:55 > 0:43:00And they always laughed and cheered, and it was like you felt this...
0:43:02 > 0:43:07..this very strong focus on, "Who are we Scottish people?"
0:43:07 > 0:43:08When I first started writing,
0:43:08 > 0:43:11we didn't know there was going to be a referendum.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13And then it was, I think,
0:43:13 > 0:43:17halfway through the writing process that we found out
0:43:17 > 0:43:20there was going to be one and also it was going to be in 2014.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22And I remember thinking at that point,
0:43:22 > 0:43:25"Oh, please, please let them go on that year."
0:43:25 > 0:43:29Because, of course, it added so much for an audience.
0:43:29 > 0:43:30I think, probably,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33the most exciting moment in my professional life
0:43:33 > 0:43:38was when the plays were on in Edinburgh, before the referendum
0:43:38 > 0:43:43and feeling how the attention of the audience came alive
0:43:43 > 0:43:47at all the moments that were actually talking about
0:43:47 > 0:43:48what it meant to be Scottish,
0:43:48 > 0:43:52what it meant to be independently Scottish, or not.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55Would one of you please explain to me
0:43:55 > 0:43:58why it is I still love you so much?
0:43:59 > 0:44:01Would someone please tell me...
0:44:01 > 0:44:04SHE SCOFFS ..why a rational woman,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08born in a reasonable country,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11would rather live here and be your Queen
0:44:11 > 0:44:15than exist in quiet, happy peace anywhere else on Earth?
0:44:17 > 0:44:20I am the Queen of Scots.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22And I don't always like that.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26But I do love it.
0:44:27 > 0:44:28Always.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34From the referendum to the general election,
0:44:34 > 0:44:36two potent and particular results.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Politicians and pundits are still arguing
0:44:39 > 0:44:40their meaning and consequences.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45However, it was undeniable that, at this moment,
0:44:45 > 0:44:47Scottish audiences were vividly aware
0:44:47 > 0:44:49of their own cultural identity.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53The National Theatre's voice had developed into something
0:44:53 > 0:44:55as uniquely Scottish as its audience.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00It had all the vigour of its strong tradition of song and story,
0:45:00 > 0:45:03but still remained youthful and rebellious.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06Demonstrated by Our Ladies Of Perpetual Succour,
0:45:06 > 0:45:11based on Alan Warner's novel, The Sopranos.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13# ..whence cometh
0:45:13 > 0:45:16# Whence cometh
0:45:16 > 0:45:20# Whence cometh hell... #
0:45:20 > 0:45:24The play is about six Roman Catholic schoolgirls from Oban,
0:45:24 > 0:45:27who are travelling to Edinburgh for the choir competition,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30but the choir competition is the last thing on their minds.
0:45:30 > 0:45:36# Lift thine eyes O, lift thine eyes
0:45:36 > 0:45:40# Eyes to the mountains
0:45:40 > 0:45:43# Whence cometh
0:45:43 > 0:45:45# Whence cometh
0:45:45 > 0:45:49# Whence cometh hell. #
0:45:49 > 0:45:53It's so out there. It's so full-on, in your face.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56No holds barred, and there's no apology for it.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06This is fucking ridiculous!
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Six in the fucking morning, and Condom's not even here.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13My wife was in a school choir, Catholic school choir.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16And I'd been hearing lots of stories
0:46:16 > 0:46:17about the adventures they'd had.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20On the bus, ladies! Yes!
0:46:20 > 0:46:21Got the goods, girls?
0:46:21 > 0:46:24Two bottles of lemon-flavoured Hooch,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27disguised in a bottle of White's Lemonade. Whoo!
0:46:27 > 0:46:31The idea was to move this choir from the countryside down to the city
0:46:31 > 0:46:33and then back to the country again.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37That idea of transition has a dramatic element to it
0:46:37 > 0:46:39that interests me very much.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43So that contrast was something I wanted to explore.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45We've all read the book, haven't we? THEY ALL AGREE
0:46:45 > 0:46:47Yeah. It's totally mental.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50Like, its quite a challenging read, I think.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53But absolutely incredible, just, like, the way it's written.
0:46:53 > 0:46:59It's just, like, overflowing with these gutsy, amazing, beautiful,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02horrific descriptions of every little thing.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06I've got two years' worth of pocket money and a packet of condoms.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08Let's go mental! Yes!
0:47:08 > 0:47:10I thought you were saving to go to Lloret de Mar?
0:47:10 > 0:47:13When my sister went to Lloret de Mar, right,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16she drank so much that she puked up all over a pedalo,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19then she ate paella that gave her diarrhoea so bad
0:47:19 > 0:47:21she had to stick sanitary towels up her arsehole.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24It was fucking brilliant!
0:47:24 > 0:47:26I'd love to do that.
0:47:26 > 0:47:27ALL: We'd all love to do that!
0:47:27 > 0:47:32I don't think I have any insights whatsoever into female psychology.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34You just observe.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39It's true I spend time hanging around Boot's make-up counter,
0:47:39 > 0:47:44but other than that, you observe, you have life around you.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46And you just see what's going on.
0:47:46 > 0:47:51It's obviously really clear that they were in a choir, so, obviously,
0:47:51 > 0:47:53there's going to be some really classical stuff.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57But it was the ELO stuff that was a surprise to me.
0:47:57 > 0:47:58Ladies!
0:47:58 > 0:48:00A one, two, three!
0:48:00 > 0:48:02# The sun is shining in the sky... #
0:48:02 > 0:48:05It's inevitably structured around music,
0:48:05 > 0:48:07because it's a choir competition.
0:48:07 > 0:48:12The genius idea of the play is to bring in music
0:48:12 > 0:48:14as almost a character in the play.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17# It's a beautiful new day... #
0:48:17 > 0:48:21It absolutely generates this momentum
0:48:21 > 0:48:23that just wasn't there on the page.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25# ..the sun shines brightly... #
0:48:25 > 0:48:26When we hit Mr Blue Sky,
0:48:26 > 0:48:31it's the first song of the show that's not a hymn or choral music,
0:48:31 > 0:48:33so it really just hits the audience.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35And we're singing it straight to them.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37Like, I'm walking along the stage,
0:48:37 > 0:48:39pointing at people, looking directly in the eye.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41I want to give them that shock factor,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44cos it's the first time that we get to do that.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49# Hey, you with the pretty face
0:48:49 > 0:48:52# Welcome to the human race
0:48:52 > 0:48:54# A celebration
0:48:54 > 0:48:56# Mr Blue Sky's up there waiting
0:48:56 > 0:49:00# And today is the day we've waited for
0:49:00 > 0:49:03# Oh-oh-oh
0:49:03 > 0:49:06# Mr Blue Sky, please tell us why
0:49:06 > 0:49:10# You had to hide away for so long?
0:49:10 > 0:49:11# So long
0:49:11 > 0:49:14# Where did we go wrong? #
0:49:14 > 0:49:16It's a gig, essentially.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18It's, like, part choir concert, part gig.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21And that's why I think that the songs fit in the way that they do,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25because we don't try to explain why they are where they are.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27When we come out, we almost come out
0:49:27 > 0:49:29and go, "Well, you're not judging us,
0:49:29 > 0:49:30"we're going to judge you.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32"We're going to judge you as an audience now.
0:49:32 > 0:49:33"We're going to tell you this."
0:49:33 > 0:49:39It's everything that you ever wanted to do as a teenager,
0:49:39 > 0:49:40that you would never have done.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43You're literally getting to put that every single night on stage.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46You all right? She's only had a couple of gin and tonics,
0:49:46 > 0:49:48but she's no' that used to it. SHE VOMITS
0:49:48 > 0:49:50Jesus Christ!
0:49:50 > 0:49:51What did you do that for?
0:49:51 > 0:49:53I didn't want to get sick on the carpet.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56We piss on there rather than risk the fucking bogs!
0:49:56 > 0:49:58Your clothes'll be ruined, Kay.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01These girls are heroic figures.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04In the novel, and also very much in the play.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08# You got me running, going out of my mind
0:50:08 > 0:50:11# You got my thinking that I'm wasting my time
0:50:11 > 0:50:12# Don't bring me down... #
0:50:12 > 0:50:15They come across to me, not as victims,
0:50:15 > 0:50:18not as troubled people,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21but people whose energies
0:50:21 > 0:50:24give us all something that we can learn from.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27So I see it as a celebration.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34In 2016, Scotland is agitated by the results
0:50:34 > 0:50:36of yet another referendum.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41The British people have spoken, and the answer is, "We're out."
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Her National Theatre is ten years old,
0:50:44 > 0:50:47but 2016 marks another anniversary.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50It is 100 years since the Battle of the Somme,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53the most devastating conflict of World War I.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56It was this anniversary that the National Theatre of Scotland
0:50:56 > 0:51:02chose to commemorate in the recent production, The 306: Dawn.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04# No name
0:51:04 > 0:51:08# I have no name
0:51:11 > 0:51:14# No name
0:51:14 > 0:51:18# I have no name... #
0:51:18 > 0:51:21The piece is about the 306 men
0:51:21 > 0:51:24executed for cowardice, desertion, mutiny
0:51:24 > 0:51:25in the First World War.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28It makes us think about, not just the glorious dead,
0:51:28 > 0:51:31the valiant dead, the brave dead,
0:51:31 > 0:51:33who died fighting for their country,
0:51:33 > 0:51:35but it makes you think about the people
0:51:35 > 0:51:38who were just totally broken by this horrendous experience
0:51:38 > 0:51:40that we put people through.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45# Tell me those things that you want to forget
0:51:47 > 0:51:50# I don't have, I don't have, I don't have
0:51:50 > 0:51:52# What's mine is yours Have words... #
0:51:52 > 0:51:55My grandparents, Gertrude and Harry Farr,
0:51:55 > 0:52:00are the real-life characters in 306: Dawn.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03# Show me where it hurts
0:52:04 > 0:52:09# And I can make it better. #
0:52:11 > 0:52:15God, I wish I could crack your head open, like an egg.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19I wish I could climb inside your brain
0:52:19 > 0:52:23and see what has been going on in there. Yeah. Me too.
0:52:23 > 0:52:28During the 1980s, I was tracing the family tree,
0:52:28 > 0:52:33and, at the time, my grandmother, Harry's wife, was still alive.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36So I thought, well, I'd ask her the question,
0:52:36 > 0:52:38as we were going over to France,
0:52:38 > 0:52:40if she could tell me where his grave was.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42And my grandmother said to me,
0:52:42 > 0:52:44"Unfortunately, he hasn't got a grave."
0:52:44 > 0:52:46Then she told me that he was executed
0:52:46 > 0:52:49for showing cowardice in the face of the enemy.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51But she added, "He wasn't a coward.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54"He was suffering from shell shock."
0:52:54 > 0:52:56I saw the medical officer's report.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58Yeah, he reckons I'm pulling a fast one.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01I'm sure he doesn't. Yeah, he does.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03He thinks the stammer and the screaming are for show.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05No-one thinks that.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07Shell shock.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09That's what one of the blokes called it.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11But the MO don't believe in it.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15Thinks that men who cry because of the guns are faking.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19There was such a dreadful stigma about the executed soldiers,
0:53:19 > 0:53:22that my grandmother had never told anyone about it.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25Harry's father, who was an ex-military man,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27forbade the family to even talk about him.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32Repeat after me.
0:53:35 > 0:53:36The facts...
0:53:38 > 0:53:40Desertion. Desertion!
0:53:40 > 0:53:42Mutiny. Mutiny!
0:53:42 > 0:53:45We were stepping into unknown territory,
0:53:45 > 0:53:47making a piece that, is it an opera?
0:53:47 > 0:53:49Is it a musical?
0:53:49 > 0:53:51Is it somewhere in between?
0:53:51 > 0:53:53But we all know that song
0:53:53 > 0:53:57is carrying a lot of the heart of the story.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01# Insubordination
0:54:01 > 0:54:05# Insubordination... #
0:54:05 > 0:54:08Often, the work we want to make at NTS
0:54:08 > 0:54:13doesn't feel like it fits well in a rarefied proscenium arch,
0:54:13 > 0:54:17where you're asking an audience to sit back and respectfully observe
0:54:17 > 0:54:19something going on in another room.
0:54:19 > 0:54:20This isn't about that.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23This is much more about putting the audience in a place
0:54:23 > 0:54:25where they can be reflective.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29And, when we started to explore the stories,
0:54:29 > 0:54:35and the men were often kept in barns in the French countryside
0:54:35 > 0:54:38after the court martial, waiting for their execution.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42And we wanted the audience to be in that barn,
0:54:42 > 0:54:47and that felt like the most honest way of the audience
0:54:47 > 0:54:50being invited to remember and bear witness
0:54:50 > 0:54:52to stories that had been forgotten.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54Firing squad, attention!
0:54:57 > 0:54:59# No name
0:54:59 > 0:55:03# I have no name... #
0:55:06 > 0:55:10For 75 years, this particular episode of the war,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13the executed soldiers, was kept under wraps.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16And young children of today don't really know
0:55:16 > 0:55:18what happened in the First World War.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20Firing squad, present.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22There were schoolchildren sitting all around us,
0:55:22 > 0:55:24watching the play while I was there.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27And, actually, someone said, "It made me cry."
0:55:27 > 0:55:29And I actually wanted to turn round and say, "It made me cry, it really
0:55:29 > 0:55:33"made me cry as well, that's my great-grandfather up there."
0:55:36 > 0:55:37GUNSHOTS
0:56:09 > 0:56:11We were living the experience, you know.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14When you had the...
0:56:14 > 0:56:16Especially the blasts.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18You felt like you were there.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21That you were in the turmoil, that you were in the chaos,
0:56:21 > 0:56:23that you were in the trenches.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27And just you get that feeling of hopelessness.
0:56:27 > 0:56:28The whole journey here,
0:56:28 > 0:56:30you're coming somewhere you've never been before.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32So it's kind of surreal.
0:56:33 > 0:56:34That was amazing.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39I don't think I've ever been moved so much by a piece of theatre.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42That was really quite powerful.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51How can a theatre company aspire to represent all Scottish theatre?
0:56:51 > 0:56:54All Scots? All of Scotland?
0:56:54 > 0:56:55The task is huge.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58The nation itself is constantly changing.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03The National Theatre of Scotland is only ten years old.
0:57:03 > 0:57:04Its future is unknown.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07But it's made a memorable beginning.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12The National Theatre of Scotland is a product,
0:57:12 > 0:57:14literally and figuratively,
0:57:14 > 0:57:18of devolution and how devolution changed Scotland.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20Ten years on,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23I think both the company and the country have really grown,
0:57:23 > 0:57:25and we're on the brink of...
0:57:27 > 0:57:28..hopefully more greatness.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36When the work was entirely unique and only came about
0:57:36 > 0:57:38because of that Scottish form, or that Scottish story,
0:57:38 > 0:57:40that was what people were interested in.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45Because no-one else could have made that in that way,
0:57:45 > 0:57:47at that moment in time.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51The Black Watches, the James Plays, the Bacchaes - they'll happen.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53They'll happen cos artists will make them happen.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56But, strategically, it's about getting out into those communities
0:57:56 > 0:57:59and being a national theatre, a truly national theatre,
0:57:59 > 0:58:01by actually taking work to the nation.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06It can't stand still, by definition.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10It's always changing, and that means it can really respond
0:58:10 > 0:58:15to the cultural moment in which it's making work.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18And I think that's its great strength.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21We mustn't ever lose that spirit,
0:58:21 > 0:58:23that idea that it's Scotland's National Theatre
0:58:23 > 0:58:26and we don't need to be like anybody else.
0:58:26 > 0:58:30We should keep doing it our way, whatever that way is.