Scottish theatre rides high

On The Guardian's Theatre Blog, Michael Billington is impressed by the vitality of theatre in Scotland.

...talking to Julie Ellen who runs Playwrights' Studio Scotland, I heard about the seething creative activity around the whole country: over the last three years Julie has offered advice and encouragement to 189 individual writers. You'd have to live in Scotland to understand why this is happening. But, as an occasional visitor, it strikes me that Scottish theatre's exuberance is a product of a resurgent nationalism. Whether this will lead to total severance of ties with Westminster is not for me to say. But one thing is clear: Scottish theatre reflects the country's growing sense of independence and is noisily on the march.