Poetic justice for actor Scott

Scott, who is 18 and lives in Craigmarloch, Cumbernauld, was one of four young participants in a special performance at the youth theatre’s base in Glasgow, where one studio was renamed after celebrated poet Morgan.

Morgan died in 2010 and bequeathed money to the Scottish Youth Theatre.

Scott read work by Morgan to an audience which included Liz Lochhead, who was chosen to succeed Morgan as Scotland’s Makar or national poet.

Lochhead’s play, Edwin Morgan’s Dreams and Other Nightmares, had a recent run at the Tron Theatre as part of the Glasgay! festival.

Scott, a former pupil of Greenfaulds High School, has been involved in SYT from a young age.

He said: “It was a privilege to be part of this event.

“Morgan’s work has a timeless quality about it and I think this will translate to future generations so it’s exciting that his legacy has a home at Scotland’s national youth theatre.”

SYT’s relationship with Morgan began in 1998 when artistic director Mary McCluskey chose his translation of Cyrano as one of the main house productions for the organisation’s annual Summer Festival.

Mary added: “We wanted to honour this great poet and his generosity, and that is what this performance was all about.

“Our in-house performance group SYT Productions have been rehearsing some of Morgan’s works and their performance really made the event something special.”

In his will Morgan left almost £1 million to the Scottish National Party. A further £1 million founded an awards scheme for young Scottish poets.

The Scottish Youth Theatre was one of three organisations gifted £2000, as were Shelter Scotland and the Association for Scottish Literary Studies.

More than 40 other organisations also received grants.