Stargazing

I wrote a lot of five-star reviews this year, which should at least clear me of that troublesome Scrooge rap. But it wasn't, all in all, a great year for the theatre in Scotland. As ever, funding was at the root of the gloom. The Great Scottish National Theatre Project - seen by some as a strategy for securing our theatre infrastructure - has been derailed, perhaps permanently. A lack of political and financial commitment from the Mound was blamed. This year also saw the Great Exodus Of Directors: among the seven artistic directors quitting their posts were Kenny Ireland at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum, Giles Havergal, Philip Prowse and Robert David MacDonald at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre and Hamish Glen at Dundee Rep. Only the last was painted as a protest resignation, though it was also a justifiable career move.

Difficult times, then. But those stars reflect more than my warm magnanimity. There was some excellent work made in Scotland this year, and it earned praise from other sources too. My hit parade only includes one visiting show: Harold Pinter's outstanding production of his own play No Man's Land. A bleak deathmatch of the soul, it emerged from the shadow of Pinter's recent struggle with cancer to reveal a surprising amount of light and humour, with superb performances from John Wood and Corin Redgrave as the sparring poets Spooner and Hirst. Two other touring shows that caught my eye (and brought a tear to it) were A Little Fantasy, an imaginative adaptation by Told By An Idiot of Flannery O'Connor's quirky corn- belt tales; and John Retallack's Hannah And Hanna, a simple but powerful defence of asylum seekers in Britain.

There was a raft of fine Chekhovs: a revival of Dundee Rep's The Seagull; Theatre Babel's glum Uncle Vanya; and The Cherry Orchard done elegantly (by the Citizens) and eccentricly (by Benchtours). At the Lyceum, Liz Lochhead and Tony Cownie turned in a tremendously entertaining version of Molire's Le Misanthrope, called Miseryguts and set in modern Edinburgh.

It was something of an annus horribilus for Edinburgh's site specialists Grid Iron, but despite the suicide of a member just before opening night, Fermentation proved to be a mesmerising meditation on sex, fire and cheese.

The capital also saw the year's best two shows by building-based companies. Prolific playwright David Greig found new maturity with Outlying Islands, his drama of nature, nurture and government skulduggery, set on a remote Scottish island in 1939. Presented at the Fringe, Philip Howard's bracing Traverse production hoovered up plaudits and awards.

But my standing ovation goes to one of those departing directors, Ireland, who took the bold decision to stage a radical play - Victory - at the Lyceum, whose core audience is not known for its radical sympathies. Howard Barker's drama - set in 1660 but carrying obvious contemporary resonances - is disturbing and filthy. It also has the potential to be brilliant, which Ireland fulfilled magnificently.

TOP 5 theatre Victory No Man's Land Outlying Islands Fermentation Miseryguts

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