Widening the debate: Aspects of community in Scotish drama in the 1980s

This dissertation will be a close textual analysis of a set of unexamined, or partially examined Scottish plays written in the 1980s. The main focus of this analysis is the use and treatment of the idea of community within these texts, and how it reflects upon notions of Scottish culture and identity. In the dissertation arguments are taken from Scottish theatre studies regarding community, and then tested against this set of plays that are largely absent from the critical literature surrounding Scottish drama. During the research process it became apparent that several plays from the 1980s have been left unexamined within Scottish theatre studies. This is perhaps because many scripts from this decade remain unpublished, are published only once or have a limited production history. One aspect of this dissertation is to widen the debate in Scottish theatre studies regarding the use of community in Scottish drama. Another result of the research is that playwrights discussed in this dissertation use community as a framework to examine the wider Scottish culture. Several plays from the 1980s highlight how the idea of community was being reassessed. This reassessment shows that Scottish playwrights were engaged in one of several cultural debates, occurring within the 1980s on the nature of Scottishness. Community is a dramatic device that allows questions to be asked regarding Scotland in the 1980s. In the dissertation there are speculations as to why some Scottish plays have been left unexamined. This absence is attributed to economic and cultural factors affecting Scottish theatre in the 1980s. It is one area that needs further research, as this lack of published scripts asks questions about the formation of a Scottish theatre canon