Actor Bill Paterson recalls life-changing experience in trailblazing Scottish play created in empty disco

History of Scottish theatre explored in new six-part podcast series

It started life in an empty Edinburgh disco, and went on to pack out village halls and community centres across the Highlands and Islands.

More than half a century later, it is widely regarded as one of the most influential Scottish plays of all-time.

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Bill Paterson starred in the 7:84 Theatre Company's production of The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil in 1973.Bill Paterson starred in the 7:84 Theatre Company's production of The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil in 1973.
Bill Paterson starred in the 7:84 Theatre Company's production of The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil in 1973.

Now one of Scotland's leading stage and screen stars has recalled his life-changing experience working on the trailblazing "ceilidh play" The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil.

Bill Paterson, who has starred in Fleabag, Guilt, Good Omens and Outlander in recent years, had one of his first ever acting jobs in the travelling company which performed John McGrath's play in 1973.

Actor Bill Paterson’s most recent roles include Fleabag and Outlander.Actor Bill Paterson’s most recent roles include Fleabag and Outlander.
Actor Bill Paterson’s most recent roles include Fleabag and Outlander.

Songs and sketches were used to explore the exploitation of the Highlands and Islands, from the Jacobite Rebellion and Highland Clearances, to the impact on communities 20th century landownership and the oil boom of the early 1970s.

Paterson has recalled his involvement in the production, one of the first staged by McGrath's 7:84 Theatre Company, for a new six-part podcast series charting the history of Scottish theatre.

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Actor Bill Paterson.Actor Bill Paterson.
Actor Bill Paterson.

Presented by journalist and critic Fergus Morgan, A History of Scottish Drama in Six Plays recalls how The Cheviot led the "explosion" of activity in Scottish theatre in the 1970s and the impact made during the decade by key figures like McGrath, Billy Connolly and John Byrne.

Both Paterson and Byrne, the set designer for The Cheviot, had both worked on Connolly's Edinburgh Festival 1972 Fringe hit shipbuilding satire The Great Northern Welly Boot Show, which McGrath came to see.

The Glasgow-born actor later agreed to join the cast of The Cheviot, which also included John Bett, Alex Norton, Alan Ross, Dolina MacLennan, Elizabeth MacLennan and David MacLennan.

Their show was written and rehearsed in Edinburgh ahead of a planned reading at a political conference in the city.

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Speaking on the podcast series, which launches on 28 October, Paterson said: "We rehearsed above the Odeon cinema on South Clerk Street in a half-used disco with sort of swirly psychedelic paintwork.

"We had a big table and seats on either side up against the windows, I can still see it. We started it with blank A4 jotters. John listed out a kind of map of how the story would run, starting with the Jacobite Rebellion. All of us were sent off on little expeditions to discover more. It was like what you would do at school.

"All the information we had was slotted in, we talked, John wrote, we suggested and altered things, but we were all aiming towards this reading of the play two or three weeks later."

An audience of academics, activists and writers who turned out for the "What Kind of Scotland?" conference at the George Square Theatre were the first to get a taste of what The Cheviot had to offer.

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Paterson said: "We had just a couple of central microphones. We sat in a row of chairs and came forward. Up the back was John, still writing and coming up with things. He would come forward and pass things to us to come up and read out.

"It would be true to say that the roof came off the George Square Theatre when we finished. There was an eruption of energy."

Word of mouth fuelled interest in The Cheviot as it made its way around the Highlands and Islands, where many audiences were given their first taste of theatre, which was combined with the familiar elements of a ceilidh dance.

Paterson said: "We would usually open at 7.30pm, we would play a very energetic show for an hour and a half, and then, after a quick 20 minute turn-around, we became a ceilidh. That would go on until people fell to the floor, either drunk or tired. And then we go off to the next gig. It was a job for fairly young actors in those days, it took a lot of stamina, but it was great fun"

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One of the most memorable elements of The Cheviot was the set Byrne designed for the show in the form of a "pop-up" children's book, which the actors turned the pages of on stage.

Paterson said: “John had designed the Welly Boot show and we knew him well. I think his budget was fifty quid. He had it ready within a couple of weeks. It was measured so it could be strapped onto the roof rack of our Transit van. It almost encapsulated the hand-knitted nature of the show."

The influence of The Cheviot grew further after the show was turned into a BBC Play for Today, which featured excerpts of the show’s performance at Dornie Village Hall, in Wester Ross.

Trish Reid, professor of theatre and performance at Reading University, tells the podcast: "The year of the Cheviot, like what they did in terms of taking that out, with the famous John Byrne pop-up set and the whole show-in-a-van thing, established a pattern for rural touring in Scotland persists in some form of another role.

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"There is an expectation that shows should go out into these community halls.

"The National Theatre of Great Britain hardly ever tours. If you compare their geographical reach to something like the National Theatre of Scotland it's kind of a joke."

Paterson would go on to enjoy a hugely successful stage screen career, including roles in the films Comfort and Joy, The Killing Fields and Truly Madly Deeply. He has appeared most recently in the fantasy drama series House of the Dragon and is the narrator of the hit TV show The Repair Shop.

Recalling the impact of McGrath, who passed away in 2002, on his career, Paterson said: "John was one of the great men of one's life. He had great charisma and was very encouraging. My life would have not taken the direction it did if he had not come to see the Welly Boot Show that night. You can't really underestimate his influence on theatre in Scotland and on all of us. He was a significant, significant figure."

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