*4 Curtain Up: The Great Yes, No, Don't Know, Five Minute Theatre Show

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*4 Curtain Up: The Great Yes, No, Don't Know, Five Minute Theatre Show

*2David MacLennan, co-curator of the National Theatre of Scotland's latest Five Minute Theatre broadcast, has been a major force in Scottish theatre since the 1970s, and developed the revolutionary A Play, A Pie and A Pint programme at Oran Mor. He explains how *3The Great Yes, No, Don't Know *2event feeds into a venerable tradition.

Five Minute Theatre curates a range of shows and broadcasts them for an entire day. How did you cope with the submissions?

The real credit belongs to staff at NTS. Their experience in doing this type of work has been invaluable.

Did you get many submissions?

The subject of the work is so important and topical that it unleashed a tremendous response from the public and the profession. It was really a question of light the blue touch paper and await the explosion!

Is there a particular answer to the question of the referendum that comes through the productions?

It's very much about diversity of opinion and indeed many of the pieces could be described as the 'undecided.' Political theatre is much more telling when it asks intelligent questions than when it pronounces simple solutions. There was really no temptation to shape an answer from the material because the richness lies in the variety and diversity of thinking.

Is political theatre on the rise in Scotland?

Political theatre is a popular art form in Scotland and these new writers are carrying on the tradition of companies like 7:84 and Wildcat: there is a whole new generation of politically engaged playwrights emerging.

And is this a good thing?

I have been lucky to have worked with many of them at Oran Mor in A Play A Pie and A Pint. I feel immensely heartened that not only do these writers care passionately about the kind of society we live in but they also write with great skill and craft.

*10http://fiveminutetheatre.com/ Mon 23 Jun

(Gareth K Vile)

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As the man who has changed the way that new work is produced in Scotland - and winning a CATS special award for it - it seems perfect that you are involved in the yes no don't know event. But it boggles my mind to think of how you can curate something on this scale - was their any particular approach that you took?

The real credit belongs to staff at NTS. Their experience in doing this type of work has been invaluable. It is also true that the subject of the work is so important and topical that it unleashed a tremendous response from the public and the profession. It was really a question of light the blue touch paper and await the explosion.

I get a sense that the event is about diversity of opinion rather than debating the issue down to an answer, but was there a temptation to curate in a a particular direction?

It's very much about diversity of opinion and indeed many of the pieces could be described as the 'undecided.'

Political theatre is much more telling when it asks intelligent questions than when it pronounces simple solutions. There was really no temptation to shape an answer from the material because the richness lies in the variety and diversity of thinking.

as someone who has been involved in political theatre for a while, do you see a resurgence of political theatre in Scotland at the moment - and how do you feel about it?

There is a whole new generation of politically engaged playwrights emerging in Scotland. I have been lucky to have worked with many of them at Oran Mor in A Play A Pie and A Pint. I feel immensely heartened that not only do these writers care passionately about the kind of society we live in but they also write with great skill and craft. Political theatre is a popular art form in Scotland and these new writers are carrying on the tradition of companies like 7:84 and Wildcat.