As the Traverse prepares to
put on the fourth instalment:
of John Byrne’s seminal Slab Boys trilogy, Kirstin Innes talks to the man himself about nostalgia, old friends and the state of Scottish culture
NewWor
‘ hirty years! Thirty years!‘ John Byme is standing in the middle of Victoria
Street in Edinburgh. looking like one of his own drawings. Perfectly-sculpted. curled white quiff. battered layers of tweed and colour. thoroughly imposing. nicotine-stained moustache obscuring his mouth and his arms scarecrow- wide. pointing in different directions.
'Thirty years since we first put on The Slab Boys. in that building over there. The old Traverse. We're rehearsing up the hill in the very same hall as we rehearsed the first show. too. which is quite extraordinary. It’s been playing tricks with me. making me think that it hasn't been that long after all. And of course. in the current play. Nova Senna. it's been 30 years since the three characters met. too.‘
The ‘three characters~ Byme is talking about. of
course. are Phil McCann. George ‘Spanky' Farrell and Lucille Bentley. two best friends from Paisley and the love of both their lives. Scottish audiences first fell for the trio in l978. with the phenomenally successful first production of The Slab Boys. which was followed up quickly by Curtin 'A Rug. both plays set on the same day at the fag-end of the l95()s. in and around the carpet factory where all three sparky. bored teenagers worked. Then came the sadder. wiser Still Life. its two acts set ten and 15 years later. following the characters into their 20s and 30s. into marriage and pregnancy. ambition and disappointment.
From working class revolutions to concep
I I 1978 1981
Traverse director Chris Parr commissions The Slab Boys. ‘Chris decided that the
Margaret Thatcher elected Prime Minister. Scottish culture
Traverse was going to gains an seminal text in focus on new Scottish antagonist and Scottish fiction. writing, and in doing catalyst.
so he changed the face of theatre in Scotland,’ says Byrne.
26 THE LIST 2/1 Apr—8 May 2008
Publication of Alasdair Gray’s Lanark, still regarded as the
Over the years Phil and Spanky have been played by a Who‘s Who of Scottish acting talent (Robbie Coltrane. Gerard Kelly. Alan Cumming. Robert Carlyle. Billy Boyd. not to mention Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn in the Broadway version) — this time around it's Patti Morrow and Geny Mulgrew. Gerda Stevenson is slapping on the stilettoes and panstick to play Lucille. in her own way just as iconic a role for the country‘s actresses. The three plays. always conceived by Byme as a trilogy, were last performed in their entirety in 2003. to celebrate the Traverse’s 40th anniversary; revisiting the characters again on this particular anniversary. again at the Traverse and using a cast studded with some of the best theatre actors in the country. feels entirely appropriate.
‘Of course. people are laughing about Nova .S'entia being “the fourth part of a trilogy".‘ says Byme. ‘i know. I know. But then someone pointed out to me recently that Douglas Adams did five parts of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. I might do five. He’s safely dead. I could beat him.‘
He laughs. at great big brilliant guffaw. and then bends closer. as though he’s whispering secrets about the people next to us.
‘Do you know. it wasn‘t going to be about them at all. I was writing a cornpleteiy different play. still set in the North East of Scotland. I was sitting there trying to get the characters' names right. because I always have to do that before I get to
1987
Liz Lochhead's Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. a bawdy, fema|e~ focussed reinvention of Scottish history.
Groundbreaking exhibition by former welder and GSA graduate Steven Campbell helps cement the reputation of the ‘Glasgow Boys’ school of figurative painting.
tuel art: 30 years of Scottish culture
Tramway’s Border Warfare and John Brown '5 Body by John McGrath and Wildcat Theatre elevate Scottish political theatre to new levels of ambition.
1990
Glasgow named European City of Culture. Gerry Mulgrew’s company Communicado puts on the very Scottish Jock Tamson’s Baims, which becomes an international hit.
The Traverse moves to new, bigger premises by the Usher Hall, signalling that new Scottish-focused theatre is now the establishment.