Why playwright David Greig is quitting a leading Scottish theatre as crunch funding decision looms

David Greig, who has been in the role for eight years, has spoken out on the pressures of running the venue in recent years due to the prolonged impact of the pandemic and prolonged standstill funding while venues have grappled with rising costs.

Mr Greig, who plans to return to writing full-time, admits to feeling "jaded" and "grumpy" after leading the Lyceum through several "very difficult" years since Covid restrictions forced the closure of theatres.

The playwright, whose replacement is expected to be announced in the autumn, is due to oversee the Lyceum’s 2024-25 season of shows, which he announced in May.

Mr Greig told The Scotsman: "The perfect storm has affected everybody. Being an artistic director has been very difficult over the last few years and certainly much more difficult than I would have anticipated when I took on the job.

"There is a bit of a churn of artistic directors at the moment in the UK. It's impossible to over-estimate how much legacy stress there is in theatre from the Covid period.

"While we've been in the crisis, everybody has wanted to stay to see their theatres to safety, but as the safety of the shore has been reached, we've seen a lot of artistic directors go: 'I need a break.' For me, there is definitely an element of that.”

Mr Greig, who published his first novel last year, said he hoped to able to keep writing for the Lyceum.

He added: "I'm not going to another theatre. I really love the Lyceum. I don't want to think of this as leaving.

"But I need and want to go back to writing. You can't really have another job when you are an artistic director. It really absorbs your entire being.

"You need so much energy to run a theatre right now. I feel like I need to take a jump to the side. The Lyceum will benefit from a new energy and a new vision. I am a bit jaded and grumpy. I don't think that's good for a theatre's artistic director to be too grumpy. You need to be forward-looking.”

Mr Greig said he anticipated "a big moment of shift" for the Lyceum over the next few years, with a new artistic director, a critical decision on its future, Creative Scotland funding due in the autumn and early discussions underway on plans for its biggest ever refurbishment.

He added: "We know Creative Scotland is going to face some very difficult decisions in October. Those decisions will affect the Lyceum for the following three years.

"Scottish theatre is in a very precarious place right now. I very much hope that it will be well-managed and well-handled to allow it to start building properly back into the kind of lively and powerful institution it was 15 years ago. But right now it is very wobbly. There's no denying that.

"You can't work in Scottish theatre and think that government funding is a permanent and reliable thing. I very much advocate for it, but the Lyceum is going to have to have a stout pair of legs to stand on. The one thing we've learned about theatre over the last eight years is that it's a very volatile world.”