The National Theatre of Scotland has today announced the full list of writers working on Scenes for Survival, the programme of artistic digital work created in response to the current COVID-19 outbreak.

Scenes for Survival is being produced in association with BBC Scotland, and BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine project and Scotland’s leading theatre venues and companies.

Last month the Company held an open call-out for writers, inviting submissions from professional playwrights who are Scottish or Scotland-based to create new pieces for Scenes for Survival. Following the call-out, which yielded over 200 applications from writers and artists across the country, there are now more than forty writers supporting the project, bringing a mixture of exciting new writing and newly performed extracts from existing Scottish works.

The writers involved include Finn Anderson, Peter Arnott, Apphia Campbell, Rob Drummond, Andy Edwards, Oliver Emmanuel, Jenni Fagan, Robert Softley-Gale, Janice Galloway, Kevin Gilday, Janey Godley, David Greig, Catherine Grosvenor, Zinnie Harris, Greg Hemphill, Aine King, Hannah Lavery, Liz Lochhead, Ian Low, Iain Finlay Macleod, Douglas Maxwell, Nicola McCartney, Val McDermid, Andy McGregor, Greg McHugh, Alan McKendrick, Johnny McKnight, Denise Mina, Rona Munro, Anthony Neilson, Noisemaker ( Scott Gilmour & Claire McKenzie), Michael John O’Neill, Morna Pearson, Frances Poet, Uma Nada-Rajah, Ian Rankin, Stef Smith, Gerda Stevenson, Tena Štivičić, May Sumbwanyambe, Luke Sutherland, Meghan Tyler and Irvine Welsh. Confirmed creatives are subject to change.

Following the successful writer’s call-out, the Company has today announced its first open call for professional performers to join the project. The initial call-out will open on the 7 May and will remain open to submissions until Friday 15 May. All submissions will be considered by the National Theatre of Scotland’s artistic/casting team, who will make a final selection with the director of each scene.

Further actor call-outs will be made in the coming weeks. Full details can be found here.

The first Scenes for Survival night will be broadcast at the end of May with the launch date to be announced next week. “Scenes” will initially be published by the BBC’s online channels and distributed by the National Theatre of Scotland and partners’ via their social media channels. All Scenes for Survival content will be free for audiences.

Scenes for Survival is being developed and delivered by the National Theatre of Scotland working in association with an unprecedented number of partner organisations, including Aberdeen Performing Arts, Birds of Paradise, the Beacon Arts Centre, the Byre Theatre, Citizens Theatre, Dundee Rep Theatre, Eden Court Highlands, Imaginate, Macrobert Arts Centre, Perth Theatre and Horsecross Arts, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Stellar Quines, the Tron Theatre and the Traverse Theatre.

The season of works will also act as a platform to raise money for the Scenes for Survival hardship fund for artists and those in the theatre industry who have been hardest hit financially by the current crisis. Further details will be announced when the first artwork is released.

Some artists involved have offered to donate their artistic fee on a pay-it-forward basis to enable further artists to be involved and paid over the coming months. The Company gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the artists who are supporting the project so far.