Hansard

I, too, thank colleagues around the chamber for their interesting and thoughtful contributions to what has been a very good and consensual debate. That is a good thing, particularly as we are on the eve of being not quite so consensual, at least for 48 hours.

I want to reflect on some of the comments that colleagues have made. I always enjoy Clare Adamson’s speeches; I particularly enjoy her quotes, as they are always highly pertinent. The quote that she used today was particularly apt. She did me the service of reminding me of an area that has had little mention—the technical skills that go towards making our national companies such a success. “A Streetcar Named Desire” is a particularly good example of those skills—I do not think that I have ever seen beer crates used in quite such a creative way as they were in that performance.

Clare Adamson was also right to talk about the innovation that we see in productions such as the National Theatre’s “The Bacchae”, which was amazing in many ways. The most recent of the National Theatre’s offerings that I have seen was a performance of “An Appointment with the Wicker Man”. I went to see it with my American intern, who, at the time, was new. I was not 100 per cent sure what he would think of it or whether he would catch the in-jokes and the almost smutty humour, but he was so enthralled by the entire thing that he decided to do the project that he was to complete for me on the National Theatre of Scotland.

I am very pleased that Brian O’Bannon has completed his report, which he has now given to me. In it, he makes the interesting point—I was reminded of it by Jean Urquhart—that Scotland waited more than 600 years for a national theatre. In my view and in Brian’s, it has been well worth waiting for.

Malcolm Chisholm spoke about the collaboration between elements of the national collections and the national companies on the “Desire” project. Such collaboration is extremely important, and I would like to see it reflected in the reports that we get about the activities of our national companies and our national collections.

Malcolm Chisholm and Joan McAlpine drew our attention to the health benefits that can derive from the field of culture. I have seen many projects through which the arts and the creativity of our companies have been used to good effect to assist people who struggle with mental health issues. I was delighted to hear Joan McAlpine mention the work that the RSNO does with Rachel House, which seems to me to be a fantastic way of using the skills and the dedication of our artists.

Malcolm Chisholm’s comments on the five-minute theatre project reminded me of the 15-minute operas that I watched in Òran Mór a number of years ago, which Claudia Beamish mentioned. Not all of them were wonderful operas, but they were all very interesting and very different. It was a bit of a challenge that they were all presented in one afternoon, but it gave people a great opportunity to see some highly innovative things happening on a very small and localised scale. There was something extremely intimate about that experience that worked particularly well.

Malcolm Chisholm mentioned that opera and politics often go together. Although Sandra White’s speech did not open with any opera, there was a wee bit of theatre and improvisation on the part of Ms Goldie, which was quite enjoyable, even if the cause of it was accidental. Sandra White was correct to identify that many of the national companies are located in Glasgow. One or two of them used to be located in my constituency, before the boundary changes were made. I am sad to have lost them, but I know that Sandra White will take good care of them. I am sure that she would agree that although Glasgow is fortunate to have those companies located there, it is a shame that the national collections do not better reflect the significance of the work that is held there. There might be opportunities for Glasgow’s treasures to become part of that family of collections, but that is perhaps a debate for another day.

In an important speech, Claudia Beamish made very important points about the current performances about the Arab spring, which demonstrate the importance of portraying the human side of conflicts, to which I think that we are often desensitised by watching them on the television in our living rooms. That is a safe environment for us and, as we watch those tragic events unfold across the world, we become a little bit desensitised to them. Seeing them in the stark reality of a stage performance can help us to reconnect with what is actually going on, why it matters and why we should care about it.

I am indebted to Annabelle Ewing for giving me a slight prod in the direction of local performances. It is incumbent on me to mention that, in my schedule this week, I managed to fit in time to see a performance of “Oliver!”, which was undertaken by the pupils of St Monica’s primary school in my constituency. I think that it is the first time that the school has ever tried to do something like that, but those primary school children were word perfect in song and dialogue and were perfect in movement. It was a fantastic experience and one that it was well worth taking a few hours out of campaigning to go to.

Jenny Marra mentioned her interest in the El Sistema project. I am sure that we all applaud and are all delighted with that project, which was originally brought here by Richard Holloway. Jenny Marra has a bit of competition in the struggle for El Sistema, as I have been trying to get it into Possilpark in my constituency for a wee while, and I think that the Deputy First Minister also has an interest in having it in her constituency. We might have a wee bit of a wrangle about that one. However, the important thing to remember is that the project makes a difference and has been seen to work. We might need to think about our strategy for rolling out that model or a similar one across Scotland.

Annabelle Ewing—sorry, Annabel Goldie; I have done it now. It is obviously going to be one of those days. Annabel Goldie mentioned the importance of working across the various areas that we have in our remit and thinking about tourism. I agree entirely. Our cultural activity is very much a driver of our tourism sector. In a previous debate, I asked the cabinet secretary whether she would give us a little bit more information about the kind of activity that our national companies would be undertaking around the Commonwealth games. I would be interested in any update on that that there might be.

I reiterate my genuine suggestion to the cabinet secretary concerning the national youth performing arts companies, which have a huge role to play. They would be appreciative of being given the responsibility that comes with being part of our national performing companies. I hope very much that that will merit discussion in the time ahead.

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