David Greig (dramatist)
David Greig | |
---|---|
Born | 1969 (age 54–55) Bristol University |
Occupation(s) | playwright, theatre director |
Years active | 1994–present |
Spouse | married |
Children | 2 |
Awards | Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award |
David Greig (born 1969) is a Scottish playwright and theatre director. His work has been performed at many of the major theatres in Britain, including the Traverse Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, Royal Lyceum Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and been produced around the world.
Early life
Greig was born in
Career
After university, in 1990 he co-founded
he would go on to write the texts for almost all of their shows until 2004, including Timeless (1997), Mainstream (1999), Candide 2000 (2000), Casanova (2001), Lament (2002), and 8000m (2004).His stand-alone plays, from Stalinland (1992) began to be picked up by major theatres; the Traverse produced Europe (1995), The Architect (1996, made into a
Greig produced around 50 plays, texts, adaptations, translations and libretti in the first two decades of his career. Dr Korczak's Example (2004) is a play for young people and Danny 306 + Me 4 Ever (1999) is for puppets. He has produced adaptations of
Greig took over from Mark Thomson as Artistic Director of Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre in 2016.[11] He adapted Aeschylus' The Suppliant Women for the Lyceum in October 2016.[12] The 2019 opening of Greig's first original new play in 6 years, Adventures With The Painted People, at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]
Themes
Despite the richness and variety of Greig's work, some persistent concerns and motifs are visible. A yearning for connection between characters, despite enormous personal, social, cultural and political distances between them; international and global links, represented through travel, desire, fantasies of other cultures; great value placed on imagination, creativity, wonder.[according to whom?]
Awards
Greig has won the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award twice; for Midsummer (2012) and The Events (2013).[14] In March 2018 it was announced that Royal Lyceum Theatre productions were shortlisted for awards in 12 categories at the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland.[15]
Personal life
Greig lives in Fife, Scotland, with his wife and two children. Greig has increasingly emerged as a significant political commentator in contemporary Scotland, intervening importantly in the debates over Creative Scotland in 2012[16] and proving an advocate of Scottish independence in the run-up to the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014.[17]
Selected list of plays
Original plays
- Europe (1994)
- One Way Street (1995)
- The Architect (1996)
- Caledonia dreaming (1997)
- The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman he once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (1999)
- The Speculator (1999)
- Danny 306 + Me (4Ever) (1999)
- Victoria (2000)
- The Swannsong (2000)[18]
- Dr Korczak’s Example (2001)
- Casanova (2001)
- Outlying Islands (2002)
- San Diego (2003)
- American Pilot (2005)
- Pyrenees (2005)
- Yellow Moon: the Ballad of Leila and Lee (2006)
- Damascus (2007)
- Midsummer (2008)
- Dunsinane (2010)
- The Monster in the Hall (2010)
- The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (2011)
- The Letter of Last Resort (2012)
- The Events (2013)
- Adventures With The Painted People (2020)
Translations and adaptations
- Battle of Will (2002), Laurent Gaudé
- Caligula (2003), Albert Camus
- Oedipus the visionary (2005), Sophocles
- The Bacchae (2007), Euripides,
- Creditors (2008), August Strindberg
- Peter Pan (2010), adaptation of JM Barrie's original fairy tale
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013), from the story by Roald Dahl
- Lanark: A Life in Three Acts (2015), from the novel by Alasdair Gray
- The Suppliant Women (2016), Aeschylus
- Touching the Void (2018), adaption of Touching the Void
- Solaris (2019), adaption of Solaris (novel)
- Local Hero
References
- ^ Dickson, Andrew (24 January 2015). "How playwright David Greig discovered Birnam Wood in Basra". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
- ISBN 9781849430876.
- ISBN 9781408157329.
- ^ "The Cosmonaut's Last Message To The Woman He Once Loved In The Former". The Independent. 2 April 2009.
- ^ a b Wallace 2013, p.4.
- ^ Gardner, Lyn (10 September 2015). "Running the Lyceum could be David Greig's greatest show yet". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ Gardner, Lyn (31 December 2013). "Best theatre of 2013, No 1: The Events". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ "Theatre review: Two Minute Manifesto". The Scotsman. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
- ^ "New stage version of Local Hero to be produced by Old Vic and Lyceum". Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ "An update on postponed shows". The Old Vic. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
- ^ "David Greig named Lyceum Theatre's artistic director". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 9 September 2015.
- ^ "David Greig announces first season at Edinburgh's Lyceum". The Stage. Edinburgh. 3 May 2016.
- ^ "Coronavirus: Edinburgh Lyceum unveils lockdown programme". The Stage. 29 April 2020.
- ^ "Where are they now". caroltambor.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- ^ "Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland nominations: Edinburgh's Lyceum picks up 12 nods | News | The Stage". The Stage. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ^ "Culture Secretary tells Creative Scotland to sort out criticisms - The Scotsman". Archived from the original on 9 May 2016.
- ^ "Scottish independence yes vote would drive change in England, says writer". theguardian.com. 3 January 2014.
- ^ "audio THE SWANSONG By David,Greig". Retrieved 3 September 2019.
External links
- David Greig on www.contemporarywriters.com
- David Greig on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical website