Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil

John McGrath was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, in 1935. After national service and Oxford University, he wrote and directed for theatre and television, as well as writing for cinema. Early work included Z-Cars for BBC-TV (1962), Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun (1966) and the screenplay for Billion Dollar Brain (1976). In 1971, together with Elizabeth MacLennan, he co-founded the 7:84 Theatre Company, which divided into Scottish and English companies in 1973 with McGrath remaining as Artistic Director of both. During his career McGrath wrote over 60 plays, including Fish in the Sea (1972), The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil (1973), Blood Red Roses (1980), Border Warfare (1989), Watching for Dolphins (1992) and, most recently, HyperLynx (2001). He was twice Visiting Fellow in Theatre at Cambridge University. His previous books include A Good Night Out (1981), The Bone Won’t Break (1990) and Six Pack: Plays for Scotland (1996).McGrath founded Freeway Films in 1982, for which he produced, amongst others, The Dressmaker (1985), Carrington (1995), Ma Vie en Rose (1997) and Aberdeen (2002). He also founded Moonstone International Screen Labs to support and promote independent European filmmaking. He received Lifetime Achievement Awards from both BAFTA (in 1993) and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (in 1997), as well as Honorary Doctorates from the University of Stirling and the University of London. He died in 2002.Graeme Macdonald (editor) is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick, UK, where he teaches modern and contemporary literature and drama. He has authored various articles and essays on 19-21C literature and culture, and is editor of Post-Theory: New Directions in Criticism (1999) and Scottish Literature and Postcolonial Literature (2011).

• John McGrath: Politics, Aesthetics and Biography; Plot; Commentary; Context: McGrath’s Theatre for Community; Influences: from Brecht to Music Hall; Theatre Without Walls: 7:84 to NTS; The Cheviot as a “World” Play; Issues: Land, Development and the Highlands; Imperialism, Nationalism and “Devolutionary-Britain”; Language and Clearance: Peripheralising Culture; The Cheviot: From Peasant to Petro-Drama; Structure; The Ceilidh as Dramatic Form: Reeling and Repetition; Comedy, Pantomime and Political Satire ; Production and Audience; “Live” History: Chronology and Capitalist; Modernity; Conclusion: A Play for Today?; References; Further Reading; The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil; Notes; Questions for Further Study.

[McGrath] was Britain’s Brecht, Scotland’s Dario Fo . . . A creative powerhouse who was often out of fashion, but never out of action . . . Today, few speak, far less make theatre, with such ideological intent.