Liz Lochhead

Liz Lochhead (born 26 December 1947) is a Scottish poet and dramatist.[1]

Background

Lochhead was born in Motherwell and raised in Newarthill, North Lanarkshire,[2] and later attended Glasgow School of Art. She lectured in fine art for eight years before becoming a professional writer.

In the early 1970s, Lochhead joined Philip Hobsbaum's writers' group, a crucible of creative activity – other members were Alasdair Gray, James Kelman, Tom Leonard, Aonghas MacNeacail and Jeff Torrington.[3] Her plays include Blood and Ice, Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (1987), Perfect Days (2000) and a highly acclaimed adaptation into Scots of Molière's Tartuffe (1985). She adapted the medieval texts of the York Mystery Plays, performed by a largely amateur cast at York Theatre Royal in 1992 and 1996.[4] Her adaptation of Euripides' Medea won the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award in 2001. Her plays have been performed on BBC Radio 4: Blood and Ice (11 June 1990), The Perfect Days (16 May 1999), Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (11 February 2001) and The Stanley Baxter Playhouse: Mortal Memories (26 June 2006). Her adaptation of Helen Simpson's short story Burns and the Bankers was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Burns Night, 25 January 2012.[5] Like her work for theatre, her poetry is alive with vigorous speech idioms; collections include Memo For Spring (1972), True Confessions and New Clichés (1985), Bagpipe Muzak (1991) and Dreaming Frankenstein: and Collected Poems (1984). She has collaborated with Dundee singer-songwriter Michael Marra to whom she dedicated the poem 'Ira and George'.[6]

In 2005,[7] Lochhead became the Poet Laureate for Glasgow, a position she held until stepping down in 2011,[8] when she was named as the second Scots Makar, or national poet, succeeding Edwin Morgan who had died the previous year.[9] She is currently the Honorary President of the Caledonian Cultural Fellows at Glasgow Caledonian University.[10]

She was writer in residence at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 1980.[11]

She is a vocal supporter of Scottish independence, having performed with pro-independence group National Collective[12] and written in The Guardian that Robert Burns would have voted for independence.[13]

Lochhead provided guest vocals on the track 'Trouble is Not a Place' from the 2014 EP The Bird That Never Flew by Glasweigan experimental hip hop group Hector Bizerk.[14]

Published Works

Radio Plays

Radio Plays adapted by Liz Lochhead
Date first broadcast Play Director Cast Synopsis
Awards		 Station
Series
25 January 2012 Burns and the Bankers[15] Amber Barnfather Sophie Thompson, John Sessions, Greg Wise, Peter Forbes, David McKay, Angela Darcy, Siobhan Redmond, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Maynard Eziashi Helen Simpson's satirical and poignant short story, dramatised for radio by Liz Lochhead. Nicola Beaumont (English, partner in a law firm, mother of four) reluctantly sits down to a long-winded corporate Burns Supper. At first impatient with the whisky-fuelled pomposity around her, Nicola finds herself surprisingly moved as the traditional rituals of a Burns Night unfold. What she comes to learn about the eighteenth-century Scots poet brings new self-knowledge and helps her through the night's violent emotions and climactic events. BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Drama

References

  1. ↑ BBC profile
  2. ↑ Scottish Poetry Library profile
  3. ↑ Peter Childs and Michael Storry (eds), The Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture. Routledge: 2009, p.311.
  4. ↑ http://www.yorkmysteryplays.org
  5. ↑ BBC – Afternoon Drama – Burns and the Bankers
  6. ↑ 'Ira and George', The Colour of Black and White (Polygon: 2003), p.8
  7. ↑ "British Council listing for Liz Lochhead". The British Council. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  8. ↑ "Liz Lochhead appointed as makar, Scotland's national poet". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Liz Lochhead confirmed as new Scots Makar". BBC News. 19 January 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  10. ↑ http://www.gcu.ac.uk/theuniversity/aboutglasgowcaledonian/culturalfellows/lizlochheadhonorarypresident/
  11. ↑ http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/the-writings-on-the-wall-1.721079
  12. ↑ http://nationalcollective.com/2013/10/14/documenting-yes-national-collective-glasgow-launch-party/
  13. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/24/robert-burns-vote-scottish-independence
  14. ↑ "Interview on STV Glasgow". STV. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  15. ↑ BBC – Afternoon Drama – Burns and the Bankers

External links