History: Artistic Directors - Stephen MacDonald 1976-79
Clive Perry, together with Richard Eyre and Bill Bryden, had established the Royal Lyceum as a Company of the highest standard, producing what was best in British and world drama. Furthermore, Perry’s directorship on the ‘70’s is recognised as the decade during which the Lyceum was at the centre of the greatest upsurge in native dramatic writing that Scotland has ever known. The challenge for Stephen MacDonald, who succeeded Clive Perry in 1976, was an awesome one.
MacDonald came from Dundee Rep where he had been Artistic Director for four successful years, which had been recognised especially for his encouragement of new Scottish writers and his innovative staging of new Scottish drama.
During this time, MacDonald presented eleven plays by Scottish writers, who included Ian Brown, Stewart Conn, Tom Gallacher, John McGrath and Hector MacMillan. It was this commitment to Scottish drama which made him the obvious successor to Clive Perry. At the Lyceum, MacDonald continued his policy of promoting Scottish plays, even developing and augmenting his Dundee programme, to the point where, as Ian Brown has shown, MacDonald more than emulated the Scottish repertoire of Clive Perry’s Lyceum.
In a programme note in October 1976, announcing his artistic policy, MacDonald wrote: “the Autumn Season stands somewhat awkwardly on its own, but I hope that MacMillan, Ibsen and Bridie will serve as fairly substantial appetiser for what is to come.”
His first three plays were Macmillan’s Royal Visit, Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Bridie’s The Anatomist, with Tom Fleming as Doctor Knox and Edith MacArthur as Amelia Dishart.
The Autumn Season did indeed ‘stand somewhat awkwardly on its own’ – MacDonald had been appointed at a very difficult time. Because of high rental charges, the Company could only afford to operate for half the year. In addition to these financial problems, the theatre building itself was in urgent need of repair and refurbishment. After MacDonald’s first three plays, the theatre closed for six months, and the Company moved to the small space in Cambridge Street.
In 1977 MacDonald returned to the newly renovated Lyceum and opened the new season with his own adaptation of Ostrovsky’s The Death of a Scoundrel, and two plays by Tom Gallacher, Revival and Deacon Brodie. For the next two years MacDonald presented a wide and imaginative programme with an emphasis on Scottish drama, together with plays by Shakespeare, O’Casey, Ibsen, Chekhov and the recent work of Tom Stoppard.
Tom Fleming, Edith MacArthur, Maureen Beattie, Moira Shearer, Gregor Fisher and Tom Wilkinson were some well-known actors who played at the Lyceum during this time.
MacDonald’s work as Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum was bedevilled by lack of funding, and theatre building problems. But in spite of these obstacles he achieved much. His was a full and successful three years. He committed himself to the further development of Scottish Theatre, produced some of the great plays of world drama, gave substantial leading parts to our finest actors, and inspired young drama students by giving them the opportunity to perform on the main stage. When he left in 1979, Stephen MacDonald left an artistic gap and a legacy which would be hard to fill.
Mike Ridings 2005