Heggie, Iain 1953-

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HEGGIE, Iain 1953-

(John Hamilton Heggie)

PERSONAL:

Born April 23, 1953, in Glasgow, Scotland Education: Wolverhampton Polytechnic, Wolverhampton, England, 1977.

ADDRESSES:

Home—3/1, 4 Leny Street, Glasgow G20 7SH, Scotland. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Playwright and acting teacher. Drama teacher, London, 1981-83; Royal Scottish Academy of Drama and Music, acting teacher, Glasgow, 1990—. Worked previously as a health club instructor, Olympic Health, Glasgow, Scotland.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Mobile Playwriting Competition special prize, 1985, for A Wholly Healthy Glasgow; Manchester Evening news award, 1987, for American Bagpipes; John Whiting Award, 1989, for American Bagpipes; Edinburgh Festival Fringe First, 2000, for Kings of Scotland, and 2001, for Wiping My Mother's Arse.

WRITINGS:

PLAYS

A Wholly Healthy Glasgow (produced in Manchester, England, 1987), Methuen (London, England), 1987.

American Bagpipes (produced in Manchester, England, 1988), Penguin (London, England), 1988.

Politics in the Park (produced in Liverpool, England, 1996), Penguin (London, England), 1988.

American Bagpipes and Other Plays (includes American Bagpipes, Waiting for Shuggies's Ma, and Politics in the Park), Penguin (London, England), 1989.

(And director) Sex Comedies, produced in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1992.

Lust, produced in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1993.

Tourist Variations, produced in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1994.

An Experienced Woman Gives Advice (produced in Manchester, England, 1995), Methuen (London, England), 1995.

The Adventures of Mummy's Boy, produced in London, England, 1997.

Funf in der Luft, produced in Glasgow, Scotland, 1997.

Lavochkin-5, produced in Glasgow, Scotland, 1997.

(And adaptor) Don Juan, produced in Glasgow, Scotland, 1998.

Wiping My Mother's Arse (produced in Edinburgh, Scotland, 2001), Methuen (London, England), 2001.

The King of Scotland, produced in Glasgow, Scotland, 2001.

Love Freaks (produced in Edinburgh, Scotland, 2002), Methuen (London, England), 2002.

Heggie Plays: Volume One, Methuen (London, England), 2003.

Sauchiehall Street, produced in Edinburgh, Scotland, 2004.

Also author of play Clyde Nouveau, 1990, and screenplay The Pen, 1995.

SIDELIGHTS:

Scottish dramatist Iain Heggie was born in Glasgow in 1953. He left school at the age of sixteen and worked part-time at a number of health clubs before completing a degree from Wolverton Polytechnic. After graduating, he worked as an acting teacher, eventually settling at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

Heggie's plays, considered controversial outside of Scotland, either focus on the struggle between the classes or take a comedic approach to sex. In his early works, he tended to emphasize dialogue over a good story, but has acknowledged that this is something he is working to remedy. Heggie's first major play, A Wholly Healthy Glasgow, takes place in working-class Glasgow, and is set in a massage parlor. Despite the fact that Heggie takes a harsh view toward London in the play, he won the 1985 Mobile Award for comedy for his achievement. His next major work, American Bagpipes, was successful internationally, and has been translated into a number of languages, including German and Finnish.

In a solo performance produced in 2004 and titled Iain Heggie Exposes Himself, Heggie did precisely that by standing up on stage and delivering his work in person. Linda McLean, in a piece for the Guardian, wrote: "Heggie is funny. His writing is witty. He has a Glaswegian rhythm of speech delivered with clarity, and a keen sense of the absurd."