7:84

7% of this population of this country owns 84% of the wealth. This statistic, taken from the Economist magazine in 1966, gave 7:84 Theatre Company Scotland its name and reveals the company's socialist roots and ethos. 7:84 was first established in England in 1971 and in 1973 a sister company was formed in Scotland which was responsible for the groundbreaking production of The Cheviot, the Stag and The Black Black Oil. It was radical in its content, its form and also its touring pattern, taking a political piece, drawing on the ceilidh tradition around village halls and community centres all over Scotland. The piece is still spoken of and loved today and it is has been interesting to note during recent discussions as to the future of 7:84, that this debut show is the one still most closely identified with the company.

In 2003 7:84 celebrated its 30th year with three successful tours, radical work from its unique outreach department, and a threat of closure from the Scottish Arts Council, its main funder! The company had toured two established political plays from the 1970s - Factory Girls by Frank McGuinness and Can't Pay, Won't Pay by Dario Fo. Both plays were entertaining, accessible pieces about working class struggles, the former centring on 5 women working in an Donegal factory facing job cuts and the latter centring on an Italian housewife having to resort to shop-lifting to make ends meet. The audience response and numbers on both tours demonstrated the thirst for this kind of work across Scotland and as Joyce McMillan of the Scotsman noted: "I haven't heard a Scottish audience laugh so much - and so joyfully - for years." In the autumn the company produced Gilt which emerged out of an innovative process with 3 writers working together to explore how money lubricates every social interaction today and its corrupt effect. Gilt took 7:84 to London for the first time in 10 years where The Evening Standard wrote that it was "One of the best visiting productions ever to appear at the Soho Theatre".

The company has pioneered a form of outreach work where we work with marginalised and disenfranchised communities using theatre to explore and express issues important to them. In 2002/3 outreach projects included Hostages To Fear, with survivors of domestic abuse, OutHere, with users of mental health services and It is Done which examined land reform issues with communities in Harris and Govan. All the pieces were performed by the community participants using their own words and ideas. This kind of work can have almost unquantifiable benefits for participants, empowering them and also helping to build confidence and connections between participants for whom isolation and marginalisation can be a daily reality. OutHere was performed at the Scottish Parliament in October 2002 to MSPs working on new mental health service legislation and the performance effected a change in approach by the MSPs. This represented the first British use of Legislative Theatre, pioneered in Brazil by renowned theatre practitioner and Socialist Workers' party Councillor Augusto Boal. It is Done involved the Outreach director and a professional playwright working with groups from Harris and Govan to explore the issue of Land Reform just as the Scottish Parliament was debating its historic legislation on it and also as the North Harris Trust was buying out the absentee landlord. The performance of the play in Tarbert, Harris, was so busy that the start was delayed as extra chairs were found for everyone.

The company therefore approached the end of 2003 feeling confident in its recent work, having just appointed myself as its new Artistic Director after 18 months without one due to illness, and ready to move ahead into a new phase of work. However at the end of 2003 the company received notification that its core funding from the SAC was being extended by only one year (instead of the usual two year cycle), to March 2005 with no guarantee beyond that. A number of other respected theatre companies are in the same position and general air of uncertainty and instability has descended onto the Scottish theatre scene. The official line from the SAC is that they are prioritising and promoting companies that work primarily with children and young people. Due to a standstill budget from the Scottish Executive, this priority seems to have been met at the expense of existing companies. This outcome has been variously described as robbing Peter to pay Paul and also as demonstrating a lack of joined-up thinking. While everyone agrees that developing work for young audience is a good thing, it seems that young audiences are being cultivated with no awareness of what theatre will be available for them once they grow up.

The other important factor in the current theatre funding situation is the imminent emergence of the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS). The debate over the need and possible structure of such a theatre has been well-rehearsed (pun intended) and the blueprint that evolved outlined a light-on-its-feet commissioning body run by an Artistic Director who would commission work from existing companies and artists, rather than a building with a large permanent staff. This innovative NTS structure is dependent on a network of vibrant and diverse companies to create and deliver projects under the NTS banner, and yet deep uncertainty has been introduced into the Scottish Theatre environment by its main funder. Furthermore 7:84, facing its possible demise in March 2005, already fulfils many of the NTS' professed remits of national touring and accessibility. To cut, or even threaten to cut, 7:84 at this crucial and exciting time in Scottish theatre seems both shortsighted and ill informed.

7:84 has now been invited to apply for core funding in mid-2004 though as yet it has not been specified for what length of funding we can apply. There have a been a series of confusing and contradictory messages emerging from the SAC about the funding criteria which make it hard to judge how we will be assessed and what our chances of retaining our funding will. However what is clear is that we need a strong political voice in the Scottish theatre scene at this time, as people become increasingly disillusioned with conventional politics whilst getting involved in alternative political activism and protests.

One challenge that 7:84 faces in a market-orientated environment is its commitment to ethical fund-raising. Under pressure to broaden our income base, we take advice from Amnesty International on suitable companies to approach. This naturally limits our possibilities of commercial income and furthermore, there are many businesses who will avoid us on the basis of our name alone! Nonetheless in the year 2003/4 we matched our core funding with other income streams, since, due to inclusive remit, we can access various social work, education and voluntary sector funds. However the SAC has difficulty in acknowledging this as legitimate non-government funding, and it seems that the role of commercial money is enshrined in the funding structure. 7:84 is currently in dialogue with the SAC to clarify our unique position and needs.

7:84 also has to challenge the assumption in some parts of the theatre world that a popular play with a strong political message is either no longer possible, desirable or needed. The SAC have relied on anonymous assessments as feedback on companies they fund. One anonymous assessor reviewed a performance of Can't Pay Won't Pay at an packed theatre in Kilmarnock and complained that the theatre audience had an unsophisticated response to what s/he thought was a dated (code for left-wing?) play and rounds off the review with the complaint that s/he felt like they were 'in a Pavilion audience'. Faced with such snobbery, the challenge for 7:84 to create politically engaging work appealing to a wide cross-section of Scottish society is a big one, whilst there seems to be a trend in many art-forms, to exalt work that aims to be obscure, elitist and created mostly for the appreciation of other practitioners.

In spring 2004 we hit the road with the most directly political work produced in a while, 'Reasons to be Cheerful'. Scripted by Martin McCardie (who wrote Tinseltown), it is a comedy inspired by the book of the same name by comedian Mark Steele. It is an uplifting chronicle of three friends who all considered themselves socialists at one time but now they can't even agree on what the term actually means. At the same time we are researching our next touring show for the autumn 2004 which looks at the state of the public services and the shrinking amount of life that is not owned, run or funded by private, profit-orientated concerns. Going under the working title of 'The Public Space', it examines the New Labour agenda that people want targets met, no matter how and that despite the shambles that was Railtrack, that private companies are still the way forward in delivering improved public services. Meanwhile the outreach department is working with young offenders at Kerelaw school and also creating a performance piece with LGBT community for this year's Glasgay festival.

In the longer term we are adapting for stage the novel Boiling a Frog, Christopher Brookmeyer's biting satire about the forces of conservatism trying to corrupt the Scottish Parliament. Also on the horizon are plays about Call Centres, with a corresponding outreach project in Silicon Glen, and a farce centred around the sectarian divide between Rangers and Celtic football teams and in 2006 both the mainhouse and outreach departments of the company will be focusing on anti-racism and multiculturalism.

7:84 is alive and kicking, and we are confident of securing long-term funding to create entertaining, energising theatre for Scotland in the 21st century.