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July 2004 Feature: National Theatre 5
Colin Marr |
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| DO WE NEED a National Theatre of Scotland as
currently constituted? Very early to say but broadly, yes. £7.5 million new
money into drama in Scotland has to be good news, whatever niggles there might
be about the constitution. Avoiding the unnecessary expense and geographical
links of a building and resident company is a very good start, so I think the
basis is good. |
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| How it will be delivered remains to be seen and there
has to be a worry that if it commissions existing companies to do something
similar to what they currently do, then the NToS is little more than an extra,
and unnecessary, chain in the funding pattern. However, if they commission
existing companies to do something that would not otherwise have been possible
and then take it to parts of Scotland and beyond that wouldn’t previously have
been reached, then it will have started to do something very
worthwhile. |
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| If it goes further and puts together combinations of
directors, writers and actors that wouldn’t otherwise be possible then it
becomes a bit of a success, and if it then attracts writers, directors and
actors who wouldn’t otherwise work in Scotland then I think we could all be very
happy. |
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As regards benefits to the Highlands, it could bring talent here that wouldn’t otherwise be seen, and for the Highlands this must be what the NToS is judged on. If it attracts the best Scottish writers, directors and actors back to work in Scottish Theatre (or maybe for the first time) but fails to get them beyond the major cities, then it will not have reacted properly to Scotland today. If it aspires to be truly ‘National’ then it must find a way of taking the best and biggest of its work to some of the smallest places. It’s a considerable challenge, but their success must be seen everywhere. © Colin Marr, 2004 |
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NORTHINGS
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March 2010 Editorial |
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