This is a past event
RIISS Research Seminar
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Abstract: 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of one of the Scotland’s most renowned and influential works of drama, the 7:84 (Scotland) Theatre group’s “ceilidh-play”, The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black Black Oil. The Cheviot aimed to engage local communities around Scotland, especially the Highlands, and argued that the surrender of Scotland’s new-found oil wealth to private interests was simply the latest episode in a long historical narrative of oppression in the Scottish Gàidhealtachd. In June 1974, the 7:84 (Scotland) Company headed to Ireland, where it performed Cheviot for five nights in the Abbey Theatre before heading out to provincial venues. The performances struck a chord with Irish audiences, not least because Ireland was also debating how best to harness the potential natural resource wealth that seemed likely to be found around its shores. This paper examines the background and reception to, and impact of, the tour, as well as the wider political context in Ireland in the mid-1970s.
Bio: Dr. Andrew G. Newby is Senior Lecturer in Transnational and Comparative History, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He has taught previously at the universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Helsinki, Aarhus, and Tampere, He had published widely on northern European history and society, and on Irish-Scottish comparative studies. His most recent monograph, Finland’s Great Famine, 1856-68, was published by Palgrave in 2024.
- Speaker
- Andrew Newby (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)
- Hosted by
- Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies
- Venue
- Humanity Manse Seminar Room
- Contact
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For further information, please contact Professor Michael Brown (m.brown@abdn.ac.uk)