Playwriting

I got my first commission for a full length theatre play from the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 1999. The play was called 'Homers', it was published by Nick Hern Books.

The Traverse was and is a great new writing theatre and I learnt so much from the then Artistic Director Philip Howard and his team. Working at the Traverse, I would go to sleep early so that the next day would come quicker.

Some other plays I wrote at the Traverse were 'Alexander Salamander', 'I was a Beautiful Day', 'The Pearlfisher' and 'The Devil Masters'. I also adapted the French play 'Un Homme en Faillite' by David Lesca (The Dramaturg was Katherine Mendelsohn). The English language version was called 'Broke'. It's a great play.

I have also been lucky enough to work with The National Theatre of Scotland. I worked with director Vicky Featherstone on the play 'Somersaults' in 2011 (published by Oberon). I also adapted a version of 'Whisky Galore' in 2015, directed by Guy Hollands and worked on the 'Dear Scotland' project.

In 2009 I wrote St. Kilda (The Opera). This was a multi-discipline theatre project. It was the idea of Lew Bogdan who was Artistic Director at Le Phénix Theatre in Valenciennes at the time. It was a very ambitious production. It was challenging and incredible to work on. The Dramaturg was Thierry Poquet (Eolie Songe Theatre Company, France).

It opened the Edinburgh International Festival in 2009. It was performed simultaneously in 2008 across five European countries in four  language versions - in Scotland, France, Germany, Belgium and Austria.

I worked with Thierry Poquet again on another theatre piece in 2020 called 'Archipelago'. We worked with twenty young actors from France, Spain, Greece & Turkey. Unfortunately the play didn't tour because of the pandemic, but Thierry and his team produced a film.

Other productions I loved being part of include the production of the play 'Atman' at the Finborough Theatre in London, 'The Bends' (Royal Conservatoire Scotland) and 'Pibroch Field' with dancer & choreographer Struan Leslie.

I have worked on other adaptations and translations for the stage including 'The Silver Bough' (British Youth Music Theatre). The composer was Gerard McBurney. I also worked with writer Justin Young on his In My Father's Words (Dundee Rep Theatre /59E59 Theatre New York.) I have also written a number of plays in Scottish Gaelic.

I have had the following roles (sorry for the list):

Associate Artist at the National Theatre of Scotland from 2013-2015.

IASH Edinburgh University/Traverse Theatre Fellow (2013), based at the Institute of Advanced Studies for the Humanities at Edinburgh University.

Robert Louis Stevenson Fellow (2009).

Associate Playwright Scottish Playwrights’ Studio (2007-2009)

Writer-in-Residence Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI for two years.

Here are some pictures from some of the plays.