Robert Kemp (playwright)

Robert Kemp (1908–1967) was a Scottish playwright. Along with Tom Fleming and Lennox Milne, he was a founder of the Edinburgh Gateway Company (1953 - 1965).[1]

Not to be confused with Robert Kemp (literary critic).

He was born at Longhope in Orkney, where his father was the minister. Educated at Robert Gordon's College and the University of Aberdeen,[2] he lived in London and then in Edinburgh (in Warriston Crescent). Before turning to drama, he trained as a journalist with the Manchester Guardian. From the time he adapted Molière's L'Ecole des Femmes for the Scottish stage in 1947 he sought to promote a distinctly national drama, often employing Scots dialogue.[3] In 1948, working with Tyrone Guthrie, he staged a revival of Scotland's first Scottish play, David Lyndsay's Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis and, also in 1948, he coined the phrase “Edinburgh Festival Fringe”.[4] His son, Arnold Kemp, achieved fame as a newspaper editor.

Published work

Robert Kemp's plays include:

  • Let Wives Tak Tent (1948): a free translation into Scots of Molière's L'école des femmes inspired by the Compagnie Jouvet of Paris's production of the play at the first Edinburgh International Festival in 1947
  • The Heart is Highland (1954)
  • The Laird o' Grippy (1954): a free translation into Scots of Molière's L'avare (The Miser)
  • Off A Duck's Back (1961)
  • The Other Dear Charmer[5]
  • The Perfect Gent (1962)
  • The Asset (play)
  • Master John Knox (play) St. Andrew Press, 1960

Other plays
  • When the Star Fell (1946), a nativity play staged for Christmas at the Church of Scotland's Gateway Theatre at 41 Elm Row, Edinburgh[6]
  • The Scientific Singers / A Nest of Singing Birds (1955 / 1957)
  • Conspirators (1955)
  • Marigold (1955), a musical play, with music by Cedric Thorpe Davie
  • The Man Among the Roses (1956), a verse play based on the ballad of Tam Lin
  • The Penny Wedding (1957)
  • The Daft Days (1957), adapted from the novel by Neil Munro
  • Rob Roy (1960), adapted from the novel by Sir Walter Scott[1]

Further reading
  • Mackie, A.D., Kemp, Robert, Milne, Lennox, Fleming, Tom & Kelsall, Moultrie R. (1965), The Twelve Seasons of the Edinburgh Gateway Company, 1953 - 1965, St. Giles Press, Edinburgh
  • Findlay, Bill, "The Founding of a Modern Tradition: Robert Kemp's Scots translations of Molière at the Gateway", in Brown, Ian (ed.) (2004), Journey's Beginning: The Gateway Theatre Building and Company, 1884 - 1965, Intellect Ltd., Bristol, ISBN 978-1841501086

References
  1. Elder, Michael (2003), What do You do During the Day?, Eldon Productions, p. 15, ISBN 9-780954-556808
  2. Pine, L.G., ed., The Author's and Writer's Who's Who, 4th ed., 1960, p.218
  3. Graves, Charles (1974), Men of Letters, in The Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh, 1874 - 1974, Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh, p. 58
  4. Kemp, Robert (14 August 1948). "More that is Fresh in Drama". Edinburgh Evening News.
  5. Keith, Thomas (28 December 2021). "Robert Burns's Life on the Stage: A Bibliography of Dramatic Works, 1842–2019". Studies in Scottish Literature. 47 (2): 69–112.
  6. Mackie, Archibald D., "Forty-One Elm Row", in The Twelve Seasons of the Edinburgh Gateway Company, 1953 - 1965, St. Giles Press, Edinburgh, pp. 3- 6
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