Black Watch It.

Back in the 1980's I worked on the stage crew at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. My dream was to be a playwright. To write brilliant, self-indulgent, messagey stuff and inflict it on others and have them think it was brilliant. (There was the one about the dingy apartment in Venice, Italy whose walls were covered in flood water. This was going to represent my brain and the audience would be in there for 2 hours and never see the canals or the Canalettos. Irony, angst, the works.) All I ended up doing was drinking lots of lager with Craig Ferguson and Peter Capaldi, who both wrote for the Tron at the time, and see a lot of plays.

But the theatre stuck with me and thing I loved about the auld place was that it supported Scottish writers and new Scottish writing. That has always stuck with me.

When I read that the National Theatre of Scotland was going to be realized, I followed it cyberly from Los Angeles, got on its mailing list, and quietly stalked its Executive Producer, Neil Murray (who used to be head man at the Tron).

I have always had this very soupy, odd notion of working with Scottish writers and artists to promote them globally. I have no real background in this. I am from film and television, and have been struggling there myself of late, so how can I help writers? And from Scotland? Not sure. But hey I was the #1 ad sales person in trade publications in Scotland when I lived there, so I have the gift of some sort of international gab.

In 2005 when I went to Scotland with the Prince Charles Pipe Band of San Francisco, I was able to set up all sorts of meetings with creative folk and talk a bit about my idea. Another Yank with the "Gee my mum is from here and I used to live here and gosh I feel so attached to my roots" yawner of a story. But that is that.

So flash forward.

Tonight I was at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn to see "Black Watch" a play by Gregory Burke and produced by the National Theatre of Scotland. I have been seeing theatre in New York for a year and this is probably the best thing I have seen. It is brilliantly staged, gripping, maddening, non-preachy, well-acted and had music that just got into my bones. The space was perfect and the mode of story-telling was just refreshing. I have to say that if you can get a ticket, go and see it.

I was looking for Neil there and managed to meet Stella Litchfield, the NTS's Development Manager. I can tell she is very good at her job as she could not have been nicer. She was so pleasant to me and my friend Pat. She even reluctantly indulged me by taking a photo with me! What people have to endure to raise money!

I saw my old boss at Sundance Channel there and playwright John Guare. I missed the NTS's production of The Bacchae which was in New York. Should have gone since Sundance Channel BFF, Alan Cumming was in it and apparently was brilliant.

I will look out for more, but go see "Black Watch." And tell Stella she is doing a smashing job.

Stella and me at St. Anne's Warehouse. Can't you Just FEEL the bubble over her head thinking "Keerist, I don't get paid enough!"