Ian Brown History as Theatrical Metaphor

Annotation

The worldwide success of Gregory Burke's Black Watch (2006) is, of course, not typical of the reception of every new Scottish play. Nonetheless, its reception is a mark of the esteem in which Scottish drama has developed over the last 80 years. This timely new book addresses the ways in which history has been represented on the Scottish stage since the mid-twentieth century. Examining versions of 'Scotland' and Scottishness in the work of leading playwrights from the 1930s on, the book asks us what these versions tell us about the nature of historical myth-making, approaches to Scottishness and national identities in general and the role of Scottish theatre in times of political change, not least as we approach the independence referendum in September 2014.