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Gary McNair

Playwright, Stage Director

About Gary McNair

Gary is an award-winning writer and performer from Glasgow. He aims to make work that will challenge and entertain audiences in equal measure. Since graduating from the RSAMD (now
RCS) in 2007, his work has been translated into several languages and performed around the world, from America to Australia, from Germany to Japan and from Portugal to Possilpark. He is a mainstay of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and he has won the coveted Scotsman Fringe First award four times.

He won Best Adaptation at the 2025 BBC Audio Drama Awards. Gary is also working on a number of commissions for stage, audio, and screen.

 

 

In Development

    • Production
    • Company
    • Notes
    • BLACK DIAMONDS AND THE BLUE BRAZIL
    • The Royal Lyceum Theatre
      8th May - 23rd May 2026
    • New stage commission based on the cult smash hit book by Ron Ferguson, following the success of the Sound Stage production in 2021, Music composed and performed by Ricky Ross

Theatre

    • Production
    • Company
    • Notes
    • NO REGRETS
    • NT Connections Commission
    • PINOCCHIO
    • Cumbernauld Theatre
    • ★★★★ - Broadway World
    • VL
    • Francesca Moody Productions / Edinburgh Festival
    • Co-written with Kieran Hurley / Winner of the 2024 Popcorn Writing Award / ★★★★ The Guardian, The Scotsman, The Stage
    • UGLY! A CINDARELLA STORY
    • Cumbernauld Theatre Company
    • NAE EXPECTATIONS
    • The Tron Theatre, Glasgow
    • Adapted from Dickens' Great Expectations
    • DEAR BILLY
    • National Theatre Scotland
    • UK Tour, Edinburgh Festival, “Dear Billy is exactly the kind of story our National Theatre should be telling*****"The Scotsman, *****The Telegraph, The Guardian
    • JEKYLL AND HYDE
    • Reading Rep Theatre
    • Reading Rep, Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, UK Tour
    • THE ALCHEMIST
    • The Tron Theatre, Glasgow
    • After Ben Johnson
    • SQUARE GO
    • 59E59 Theatre New York
    • Written by Gary McNair and Kieran Hurley
    • SQUARE GO
    • UK Tour
    • Written by Gary McNair and Kieran Hurley
    • SQUARE GO
    • Edinburgh Festival
    • Written by Gary McNair and Kieran Hurley /FRINGE FIRST AWARD WINNER : “Funniest show of the festival… Hilarious and human high-school two-hander that’s just brilliant fun” The Stage *****
    • TELL US WHO WE ARE
    • Scottish Youth Dance
    • MCGONAGALL’S CHRONICLES (Which Will Be Remembered For a Very Long Time)
    • Òran Mór & Traverse Theatre
    • Produced by A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Òran Mór / The Herald ***** “Pure bliss”
    • AFTER THE CUTS
    • Òran Mór & Traverse Theatre
    • “his play about the dismantlement of the NHS, is darkly witty and deeply tender” The Stage  ****
    • LETTERS TO MORRISSEY
    • Traverse Theatre / Edinburgh Festival
    • FRINGE FIRST AWARD WINNER / Written and performed by Gary McNair / "Nobody is better than McNair at capturing what it feels like to be the odd kid" The Guardian "McNair is a consummate storyteller" The Stage “Gary McNair’s nicely judged, just the right side of nostalgic solo show” The Telegraph **** “The show's a fine piece of pop criticism” What’s on Stage **** The Scotsman **** The Wee Review **** Broadway Baby ****
    • LOCKER ROOM TALK
    • Traverse Theatre
    • LOCKER ROOM TALK
    • Scottish Parliament
    • LOCKER ROOM TALK
    • Edinburgh Festival
    • LOCKER ROOM TALK
    • Abbey Theatre, Dublin
    • PUNNOCCHIO
    • Òran Mór
    • Written by Gary McNair
    • A GAMBLER'S GUIDE TO DYING 
    • 59E59 Theatre, New York
    • A GAMBLER'S GUIDE TO DYING 
    • UK Tour, September
    • A GAMBLER'S GUIDE TO DYING 
    • Adelaide Fringe Festival
    • nominated for BEST NEW PLAY by Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2016
    • LET THE BITCH BURN
    • Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
    • RUMPLE STILL-SKINT
    • Òran Mór
    • Co-Writer
    • THE PIE-EYED PIPER OF HAMILTON
    • Òran Mór
    • WAR ON CHRISTMAS
    • The Arches
    • Writer / Performer
    • DONALD ROBERTSON IS NOT A STANDUP COMEDIAN
    • Scotland & UK Tour
    • McNair is at his brilliant best… it’s difficult to imagine these vital questions about comedy, masculinity, hierarchy and cruelty being handled more skilfully” - ****, The Scotsman “McNair forensically explores the power of comedy to win friends and humiliate people… Killingly funny.” - ****, The Herald "In this cracking new piece, writer-performer Gary McNair dissects the tricks and psychology of comedy in what becomes a touching coming-of-age story" - ****, Financial Times "Smart and cunningly constructed" - ****, The Guardian "A gem of a show" - ****, The Telegraph **** The Times
    • DONALD ROBERTSON IS NOT A STANDUP COMEDIAN
    • Traverse Theatre / Edinburgh Festival
    • DONALD ROBERTSON IS NOT A STANDUP COMEDIAN
    • Developed as part of the NTS / The Arches Auteurs Programme
    • THE DEFICIT SHOW
    • Òran Mór
    • Director / Contributing Writer
    • THE COLDEST SHOW ON EARTH
    • EISF Banglor / Abu Dhabi,
    • WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW...
    • Trigger
    • Writer / Performer
    • DEMONS
    • Òran Mór
    • Contributing Writer
    • DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS
    • Gareth Nichols / McRobert
    • Dramaturg
    • DETOURS - PRIMATE CINEMA
    • Trigger / Edinburgh Art Festival
    • Writer / Performer
    • THE JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU SHOW
    • Òran Mór
    • Contributing Writer
    • BORN TO RUN
    • Òran Mór / The Traverse
    • Writer / Director
    • ALBERT DRIVE
    • Glas(s) / Tramway / RCS
    • Associate Artist
    • BLACKPACKER BLUES
    • Douglas Maxwell
    • Director
    • PAUSE WITH A SMILE
    • The Arches / Traverse / Gareth Nichols
    • Performer / Devisor
    • COUNT ME IN
    • National Theatre Scotland / Traverse
    • Writer / Performer / Director
    • MAN TEST
    • Pt. 1 Shunt
    • Co-creator with Kieran Hurley
    • HOW SOON IS NIGH?
    • The Arches / The Traverse
    • Writer / Performer / Director
    • NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND'S 'ALLOTMENT 2'
    • Co Writer / Co Director
    • CRUNCH
    • Forest Fringe / Òran Mór / National Tour
    • Writer / Performer / Director
    • EQUAL AND OPPOSITE
    • The Arches
    • Writer / Performer / Director
    • OUTSIDE OF A POD
    • Tramway / BAC
    • Writer / Performer / Director

Audio

    • Production
    • Company
    • Notes
    • TREASURE ISLAND
    • BBC Radio 4
    • music by Malin Lewis and Michael John McCarthy.
    • BLACK DIAMONDS AND THE BLUE BRAZIL
    • Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and Pitlochry Festival Theatre
    • Adaptation of the cult smash hit book by Ron Ferguson commissioned and produced as a Sound Stage production during Covid
    • TAM O'SHANTER
    • BBC Radio 4
    • Warm-hearted re-imagining of the Robert Burns poem
      Won Best Adaptation at the 2025 BBC Audio Drama Awards

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