The Future of the Past: Revisionism, Theatricality, and National Identity in Three Scottish Plays from the 1970s to 2010

Abstract: This article examines three contemporary Scottish plays that, through diverse and often experimental dramaturgical strategies, engage with the past from a present-day perspective. In doing so, they foster a dynamic interplay between past and present that also offers insight into Scotland’s potential futures. Each play interrogates the notion of historical memory by revisiting pivotal or mythologised episodes from Scotland’s past – events whose echoes continue to shape the nation’s present and influence its imagined future. Ian Brown’s Mary (1977) and Liz Lochhead’s Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (1987) employ parody and pantomime to dramatise the relationship between Elizabeth I and her cousin Mary Stuart, illustrating how history is repeatedly reconstituted as national myth and identity, particularly in a post-Union context. David Greig’s Dunsinane (2010) reimagines Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish play’ to reflect on the transhistorical dynamics of imperialism and military intervention. Through these case studies, the article traces a trajectory of Scottish historical theatre from the 1970s to the present, highlighting how these playwrights’ engagement with the past is inextricably linked to their interrogation of Scotland’s contemporary condition and national aspirations.