Spoiling

Description

I'd always been interested in the referendum. Followed every bit of it. Was as surprised as anybody at the result. When I saw that they needed new people for the transition, experienced people, I jumped at the chance. Scotland has gained independence. It's the eve of the Scottish Foreign Minister giving her first public address and in half an hour she is due to make a keynote speech outlining the nation's relationship with its neighbours in the former UK. There is a problem. Aside from being on the brink of giving birth, she is refusing to speak the form of words she's been given. She has something else she wants to say. Spoiling is a brilliant political comedy that boldly and humorously deals with some inflammatory issues. It is the only one in fifty plays by the Traverse's writers to receive a full commission in 2014. It received its world premiere at the Traverse Theatre on 28 July 2014.

Originally from Co. Armagh in Northern Ireland, John McCann now lives in Dundee. A short version of Spoiling (directed by Orla O'Loughlin) was staged in The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh during the Write Here festival in October 2013. The Cleanroom (directed by Michael Duke) was staged by Tinderbox Theatre Company in Belfast as part of the True North project in 2010. Other work includes The Next of It, read as part of Stellar Quines' Rehearsal Room 16 at the Traverse Theatre and also read at The Lyric Theatre Belfast. His short play Is Feidir Linn was given a staged reading in the Brian Friel Theatre at Queen's University Belfast by Tinderbox as part of the 2011 Pick 'N' Mix festival. In 2010 John took part in the Playwrights Studio Scotland Mentoring Scheme. He was previously on attachment with The National Theatre Studio, a member of The Royal Court Studio Writers' Group and recently participated in the Breakthrough programme, a year-long development attachment with the National Theatre of Scotland. In 2013 he was selected to be one of The Traverse Theatre 'Fifty'. John is currently writing a new play, The Ballad of Comet McEntaggart, for Replay Theatre Company, Belfast.

McCann uses his own facility with words to lay bare the treachery of political language and suggest that it's time to speak plainly and truthfully at last. * Guardian * Beyond the ephemeral moment of the referendum, this lively piece also has timely points to make about the tension between idealism and pragmatism in politics and the relationship between career politicos and an exasperated electorate. * The Times *