Alexander Reid (playwright)

Alexander Reid
Born	(1914-08-19)August 19, 1914 Edinburgh
Died	(1982-07-01)July 1, 1982
Occupation	journalist, playwright
Nationality	Scottish
Education	George Heriot's School, Edinburgh
Genre	drama
Literary movement	Scottish Renaissance
Notable works	The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou

Alexander Reid (1914–1982) was a Scottish playwright and poet,[1] "one of the neglected dramatists of the Scottish Renaissance".[2] His two best-known plays are The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou (1950), based on the legend of Thomas the Rhymer and The Warld's Wonder (1953), about Michael Scot, the famous magician.[3]

Life

Alexander Reid was born on 19 August 1914 in Edinburgh, and educated at George Heriot's School. From 1929 to 1936 he worked as a journalist for the Edinburgh Evening News, before writing on Scottish history and literature for the SMT Magazine. A conscientious objector during World War II, he worked as a bookseller and accountant before becoming a full-time writer and broadcaster in 1948.

His first play, World Without End (1946), was a contemporary piece about nuclear holocaust, but he is now best remembered for his period plays in Scots.[4] The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou was first performed at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre in November 1950. It was adapted as a television drama, first broadcast by the BBC on Tuesday 6 October 1953,[5] and was staged again by Edinburgh's Gateway Theatre Company during its 1954-55 season. The Warld's Wonder was produced at the Gateway in the autumn of 1958.[6]

Reid's short stories include The Kitten[7] and A Warm Golden Brown.[8]

Reid edited the Saltire Society's quarterly Saltire Review from 1954 until 1960.[9] He died in Edinburgh on 1 July 1982.[2]

Published works

• Steps to a Viewpoint, 1947
• Zoo-illogical Rhymes, 1947
• The Milky Way, 1956
• Kirk and Drama, 1957
• Two Scots Plays (The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou and The Warld's Wonder), 1958
• The Young Traveller in France, 1963

Other plays

• World Without End, 1946
• The Wax Doll, 1956
• Voyage Ashore, 1956

References

1. The Edinburgh Festivals: Culture and Society in Postwar Britain – Angela Bartie – 2013 p. 80 "In 1957 one prominent playwright and commentator on theatre, Alexander Reid, had charged that the Festival had got 'bogged down' and was in danger of collapsing once its novelty wore off, unless the organisers found a continuing purpose."
2. Trevor Royle (1984). "Reid, Alexander". Macmillan Companion to Scottish Literature. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-349-07587-4.
3. Reid, Alexander (1958), Two Scots Plays, Collins
4. Smith, Donald, "The Mid-Century Dramatists", in Brown, Ian (ed.) The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Drama, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 122 & 123, ISBN 9780748641086
5. The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou, Scotland On-Air
6. Edinburgh Gateway Company (1965), The Twelve Seasons of the Edinburgh Gateway Company, 1953 - 1965, St. Giles Press, Edinburgh, pp. 43 - 56
7. Reid, Alexander, "The Kitten", in Millar, Robert & Low, J.T. (eds.) (1973), Ten Modern Scottish Stories, Heinemann Educational Books, Edinburgh, pp. 3 - 5, ISBN 0435135457
8. Reid, Alexander, "A Warm Golden Brown", in Millar, Robert & Low, J.T. (eds.) (1976), Further Modern Scottish Stories, Heinemann Educational Publishing, Edinburgh, pp. 11 - 15, ISBN 0435135406
9. Reid, Alexander (ed.), Saltire Review 1, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, April 1954