To celebrate 50 years of the Scottish Society of Playwrights, in 2024 ten Fellowships Awards, were granted to innovative, inspiring, boundary-stretching projects that honoured, celebrated and promoted playwriting in Scotland. Supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
About Martin
Martin Travers is a playwright whose work has been produced by NTS, Citizens Theatre, In Cahootz, Scottish Opera and Òran Mór. His plays include Whatever Happened to the Jaggy Nettles? (winner Best Play For Young Audiences at the Writers’ Guild Awards in 2022), and a musical adaptation of Theresa Breslin’s Divided City. He’s the Creative Producer of the Scots language theatre company Braw Clan. He is also the writer of their acclaimed debut play, Secret Wrapped In Lead.
The Project
Crown of Straw celebrates the life of Robert Fergusson, the trailblazing writer who inspired Burns. Exploring his pioneering poetry, lively songs and tragic death in an Edinburgh asylum, this innovative new work by Martin Travers unravels the politics and sexuality of one of Scotland’s most important, and forgotten, poets.
Martin’s project was developed in partnership with Braw Clan, Biggar.
In June 2024, Martin was interviewed about the play. Read the interview here.
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SSP@50 Fellowship Awards
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Elspeth Turner: Teud A’ Briseadh / A Breaking String
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Fergus Morgan: A History of Scottish Drama In Six Plays
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Jack Dickson: Off the Rails / Back on Track
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Jack MacGregor: Faultlines
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Kathy McKean: Archive Project
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Martin Travers: Crown of Straw
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May Sumbwanyambe: A Play investigating Chartism, Women’s Rights, Abolitionism and the Free Church in 1840’s Glasgow
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Michael John O’Neill: Interregnum (Working Title)
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Morna Young: No Ladies
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Rachael McGill: Stromness Plays