Thursday 9 January 2014

Albion Street - recording

I think it was Paul Klee who said that drawing was 'taking a line for a walk'. For me, plays are a good way to take a thought for a walk.

Albion Street is my take on the debate on Scottish independence.

It's a radio play about a man and woman who meet by chance in a smart restaurant in the Merchant City of Glasgow and discuss their past, independence and pastrami.

I didn't start out with a particular point of view. In fact, it was because I wanted to find out more about it that I decided to write the play. I spent a year reading stuff and listening to people. When asked which way I would vote, I always replied 'I don't know yet'.

But the truth is that the play has ended up being about relationships, about people and their pasts and how they define themselves.

I watched a lot of Eric Rohmer while I was writing it. I love his films, such as My Night With Maude, where two people meet in unlikely circumstances, there is a confrontation and they leave. There are no big bangs, no murder or anything, but somehow everything has changed.

So Albion Street uses independence as a metaphor for relationships rather than the other way around.

I hope you enjoy it.

It's directed by Gaynor MacFarlane and is performed by the splendid Meg Fraser and Robin Laing. We're in studio today and it will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland Wednesday 29th January at 1330.

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