Greig to leave Lyceum’s AD role
David Greig to step away from AD position at Royal Lyceum
David Greig has announced that he will not be renewing his role as Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum when his current contract ends in 2025, to return to his “first calling” as a writer.
He will leave the post he took up in 2016, at the end of the current 2024/25 season. However, he will will continue his long association with The Lyceum, remaining a “key partner and supporter to Scotland’s largest producing theatre” according to a statement from the theatre itself.
David Greig on the Lyceum stage in 2024 with the auditorium behind him. Pic: Stuart Armitt
He leaves a theatre which has an ambitious five to ten year plan that involves expansion, a new commercial model, a major capital project and a change in the way theatre making is financed.
Over his tenure, which included the existential crisis of the Covid pandemic, Greig has continued writing, putting his own adaptations and new work on the Lyceum stage and elsewhere.
Announcing his decision, Greig said: “After eight years of leading the Lyceum through change and challenge I feel it’s time to return to my first calling, as a writer. This has been a very hard decision because I adore my job but it’s the right time for me.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved at The Lyceum over the last eight years. Together we’ve overcome enormous challenges such as COVID, inflation and the financial crisis.”
Oscar Batterham and the choruses of The Suppliant Women. Pic: Stephen Cummiskey
Greig set his stall out unequivocally from the start, opening his first season, in 2016, with his adaptation of Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Women (Æ review: ★★★★☆ Impressive and timeless), which featured a 30-strong community cast, setting his intention to make The Lyceum a theatre for and of the people.
During his tenure his adaptations for the stage included three in 2019: Touching the Void (Æ review: ★★★★☆ Viscerally convincing), Solaris (★★★★☆ Questioning intelligence) and, in one of the most successful productions in The Lyceum’s history, Local Hero (★★★☆☆ Charming).
All three were co-productions, a feature of Greig’s pattern of working. He says: “We’ve made shows in The West End, in Australia, Sweden, Off Broadway, The USA, England and Ireland. We’ve made Fringe, Book Festival and EIF shows. We’ve toured shows in Scotland and abroad.
“This last year alone, our productions toured Scotland, London and New York as well as performing to sold-out crowds at home in Edinburgh.”
Nicole Cooper (Lady Macbeth) and Emmanuella Cole Lady Macduff) in Zinnie Harris’s Macbeth An Undoing, which toured to New York this year. Pic: Ellie Kurttz
While including his own work, Greig has been mindful of including other writers’ work on the Lyceum stage, winning the International Centre for Women Playwrights 50/50 Applause award for gender parity in its playwrights, for the Lyceum’s 2017/2018 season.
At the time, he told Æ: “In future I hope 50/50 programming will be so normal it would be odd to be praised for it. But for now, I’m delighted that our determination to make our theatre a place where writing by women is treated equally has been recognised.”
Other innovations have included the successful association with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Playing With Books, which gave writers and other creatives space to adapt a novel for the stage. As well as the multi-discipline artists attachment programme, L20.
Greig added: “The next decade will be a transformative and exciting period. I remain passionate about The Lyceum and about producing theatre in Scotland. I look forward to continuing to contribute to The Lyceum as an artistic partner.”
Helen Logan, Joanne McGuinness, Damian Humbley, Simon Rouse in Local Hero, one of the Lyceum’s most successful productions ever. Pic: Stephen Cummiskey
A statement by Tari Lang, Chair of the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh Board, thanks Greig – noting particularly how he has put the Lyceum’s mission to widen access firmly at the heart of its work. Lang hints at changes to the theatre’s structure over the coming decade which Greig’s successor will be challenged to take forward.
Lang says: “We have an ambitious five-to-ten year journey which involves expansion, a new commercial model, a major capital project and a change in the way theatre making is financed which will be enriched by David’s continuing support.”
David Greig in May 2016 when he announced his first Lyceum season as AD. Pic: Thom Dibdin
ENDS
