ABSTRACT
Scotland in the 1960s and 1970s seemed to be waking and stretching its limbs, socially, culturally and politically. Talk of devolution or even independence introduced new matter and a new urgency into the old debates about socialism and nationalism. Scottish optimism was severely jolted and further dashed when the anti-devolution Conservatives, under Mrs Thatcher, won that year's general election. In 1980 the Scottish Theatre Company was founded by Ewan Hooper, and in 1982 Tom Fleming took over. Through the 1990s, with Scottish devolution looming, the theatre was coming out of theatre buildings and finding new spaces and new audiences to drive the conversation about the nation. In fact, around the time of devolution, Scottish theatre fell victim to bureaucratic muddle and reorganisation. In 2003 it was announced that funding would be made available for a Scottish National Theatre, and Vicky Featherstone from the English Paines Plough Company was appointed its first artistic director.
