Alasdair Gray maintained only a “marginal” interest in the epic theatrical production of his novel Lanark, which premiered last night at the Edinburgh International Festival.
Gray, who has been in hospital since June, was consulted more than two years ago by David Greig and Graham Eatough, the writer and director responsible for the new stage version, but he remained aloof from their work.
“It’s not exactly of no interest, but it is of marginal interest to him. That’s an enormous liberation for me,” said Greig, who adapted the book.
At almost four hours long, the play was designed was to “do justice” to Gray’s groundbreaking novel, Eatough said, and its form mimics the book’s unconventional structure, which opens part way through the narrative.
The novel is set in the disintegrating cities of Unthank and Glasgow, and tells the stories of Lanark and Duncan Thaw. When it was published in 1981, Anthony Burgess declared it “the best Scottish novel since Walter Scott” and compared it to James Joyce’s Ulysses.
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Greig is an accomplished playwright whose work has been commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Scotland. He said he could understand Mr Gray’s apparent indifference to the stage version of Lanark, a co-production between the festival and the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow.
“It is like I might get a production in China of one of my plays. I’m very happy that people in China will see my play but I’m not going to see it,” said Greig. “With Alasdair, I always felt, the book is what he cares about. He’s benign about [the play]. As far as he is concerned, the book is Lanark, nothing else is Lanark.”
Both playwright and director were speaking before last night’s opening at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, which they were approaching with what Eatough admitted was “a certain amount of trepidation”. A preview of the show in Glasgow was recently cancelled.
Greig said: “Without the Edinburgh International Festival we couldn’t have done it.
“It is appropriate in Alasdair’s 80th year that this great novel gets to shine on the world stage. Of course, unlike every other show at the festival, this is our utter premiere. It has barely run three times, let alone been shown to the public. That is the old story of the Scottish show at the festival — we have to compete with shows that are already hits.
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“Having said that, we couldn’t have done it any other way. I am really happy they invited us, but it is scary.”
Eatough said he was hopeful that the plays would reward readers who loved the novel. He said: “There is an added sense of responsibility with people who read the book, but also towards people who haven’t read the book, have only just heard of it or have read the first two or three chapters.”
As for the length of the play, Greig said: “I genuinely believe audiences are hungry for big shows. They are used to the idea of box-set binges for eight hours in a day; they will go to see The Oresteia [at the Almeida Theatre, London] which is four and a half hours. At the festival, that kind of length is not out of the norm — and there are two chances to drink gin.”
Gray has been in intensive care in Glasgow Royal Infirmary for nearly three months, after he fell at home and broke bones in his back.
He spoke to The Times in March, immediately after the festival announced the production, and used his portrait of the cover of its official programme. He said: “I know Greig is a good playwright and I think he will do a good job.”