ONE of Scotland's most important historic plays is to be revived with two performances this summer nearly 500 years after it was written.
The Satire of the Three Estates, or Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, by Sir David Lindsay, has been revived by scholars and will be performed at Linlithgow Palace and Stirling Castle in June.
No texts survive of the original play but academics – including from Glasgow and Edinburgh universities – believe it will be the first performance of this once-lost version since 1540.
The shows recreate a production in Linlithgow that year, as well as a longer 1552 version staged in Cupar and at Edinburgh in 1554.
The Satire, often mooted as a play the National Theatre should stage, is an attack on the Three Estates in the Scottish Parliament – the clergy, the lords and Burghers, as represented by the characters Spiritualitie, Temporalitie and Merchant.
Professor Greg Walker, of Edinburgh University's School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, said: "Just as Lyndsay, on the eve of the Reformation, sought to investigate Scottish national identity and promote social reform in his play, Scotland once more finds itself at a crossroads as it heads towards the independence referendum of 2014.
"People are again asking those questions raised in stark clarity in The Three Estates."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article