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Of theatre and families



This has been a week of theatre and families. Which has made me think how much one is so much like the other. A weekend full of adult children, their spouses and their children sharing food, wine and a cold Edinburgh with all the energy, excitement, chat, gossip and sharing is the domestic version of theatre. Two send-off events of the National Theatre of Scotland's inspirational and exciting artistic director, Vicky Featherstone, were also full of energy, excitement, gossip, show-offing, shrieks and laughter.

 The Point Of View is the stuff that makes family or theatrical gatherings. This is what I love most. As we are in Scotland, Independence is a big Point Of View subject. This usually starts with some Dancing Around (which side are you on and is this going to be a big argument?) before moving directly to the CrazyOMeter (their side would be crazy to think....) and going for the Kill (there's only one Point Of View that matters, and that's mine). The volume gets turned up right from the start - there is no crescendo, no build up, no accelerando. Of course there are tell-tale signs as to which side of the argument people stand, as in whether they refer to 'Alec' or 'Salmond' which could, if picked up early enough, dispense with the Dancing Around step to go straight to the Kill. 

 The theatrical groups this week was full of Creative Scotland talk - not completely unrelated to Scottish Politics and therefore a subtlest link to Those People Who Want Independence. The despair about the complete lack of empathy, understanding and sensitivity in dealing with a vibrant, well-honed artistic community in a nation which has produced the biggest Arts Festival in the world, wonderful schools of artists, inventors and creators, is shared with passion. Scots are passionate people when they get riled, they can also be quite self righteous. Cross this with the artistic ego and self belief and the result is an explosion. A business-based, rational, structured, processed, logical body to manage and fund the arts is akin to putting Richard Dawkins in charge of the church retreat. Disaster on so many levels that I fear a two-day retreat in Pitlochry for the CS Board may not actually deliver the solutions.

 The eventual resignation of Creative Scotland's chief executive was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. So last night, in a room in Glasgow's Tramway, a disused tram shed now the noisy and busy hub of contemporary visual and performing art, 450 theatricals with glasses of wine in hand, mingled and gossiped about What Next or Who Will Go Next. There was some institutional loyalty on the subject of They Have It Sorted Now or That Was  Good Statement They Put Out but I didn't feel much conviction. 

 Back to families, where Creative Scotland measured zero on the interest scale, other matters Scotland popped up. The nation's health and hospitals, the inevitable Tram Talk and the Edinburgh Traffic Talk. At least I didn't hear much discussed about Education - usually a favourite topic. Four-year old Hannah, still grappling with the notion of distances thought that a quick taxi ride will get her from Edinburgh to Martinborough in New Zealand, her next holiday destination. Not with this Edinburgh traffic, say I.

Location: Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, UK

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