Writer of showpiece Festival satire Caledonia fails to turn up for opening night

THE writer behind the National Theatre of Scotland's showpiece festival production Caledonia missed its premiere after leaving Edinburgh days before the show opened, The Scotsman has learned.

• Alistair Beaton, above, and Anthony Neilson, below, worked together on the production of Caledonia

Veteran Scottish writer Alistair Beaton returned to his home in London last week and is refusing to comment on the play, which debuted at the King's Theatre on Saturday night.

In a recent interview with The Scotsman, Beaton would not be drawn on his working relationship with the show's director, Anthony Neilson, other than to describe it as "very interesting".

Neilson for his part admitted the collaboration had not been "without its sticky moments".

But last night Beaton said he had returned to London and would be making no further comments about the production. "What I did was, a few days ago I cancelled all further media interviews connected with Caledonia and went back to London," he said.

"I'm not making any more public statements in connection with the National Theatre of Scotland production of Caledonia and I leave the world to interpret that as they will."

A spokeswoman for the National Theatre of Scotland confirmed they were aware that Beaton would not be attending the opening night of his show.

She said: "National Theatre of Scotland is proud that writer Alistair Beaton, director Anthony Neilson and all the team have made an important piece of Scottish theatre. The box office success of Caledonia and enthusiastic audience response are testament to the skill and talent of all involved."

• CV: Alistair Beaton

• CV: Anthony Neilson

There are high expectations for the production, a satirical take on Scotland's failed 17th-century colony in Panama. The play is the latest offering from the National Theatre of Scotland which found global success with its production of Black Watch, launched at the Fringe in 2006.

Caledonia is the first work that Beaton has made in Scotland and also marks the first time Beaton, 63, and Neilson, 43, have worked together.

Both men left Scotland in their twenties and have made heavyweight careers in London.

NTS artistic director Vicky Featherstone is credited with bringing the two men together, despite their seemingly contradictory approaches and CVs.

Creative tensions were obvious during rehearsals. One interviewer last month recounted how Neilson added a third character to the opening scene while Beaton was out of the room.

Beaton said afterwards: "Anthony is more visual than me. He has a way of moving scenes around, of taking them somewhere else. My first reaction is horror, but my second reaction is: That's really interesting - it opens the play up in a way I would never have thought of.

"He explores more on the rehearsal room floor than I'm used to."

A spokeswoman for the Edinburgh International Festival said: "We are delighted with Caledonia. The National Theatre of Scotland, Alistair and Anthony have created a vibrant play which manages to tackle a big, weighty subject while giving everyone a very entertaining night out."

Caledonia continues at the King's Theatre until Thursday.