Tony Roper’s play is the great popular success of the last 40 years in Scotland – an instant hit and a perennial favourite.
It has played in small and large venues with equal success, and has given meaty roles to a variety of Scottish actresses.
First produced by Wildcat Stage Productions at Jordanhill College, Glasgow, 1987. Directed by Alex Norton.
Dolly – Elaine C Smith
Magrit – Dorothy Paul
Mrs Culfeathers – Ida Schuster
Doreen – Katy Murphy
Andy – Ray Jeffries.
'It's the tatties Mrs Culfeathers.'
One Hogmanay in the 1950s four Glasgow women of various ages and personalities gather in the local wash-house (or 'steamie') to do their last laundry of the year.
They share memories and jokes, talk about their menfolk, have hopes for the future, and sing a few songs. It is sad, nostalgic, and very, very funny.
A simple but long-drawn-out anecdote when Mrs Culfeathers talks about buying minced beef from a butcher has become legendary.
'Aye men are aw clarty in their persons.'
'It broke new ground because it was written by an actor. That doesn't fit into the plan that actors act, writers write and directors direct. It also featured a lot of women which was unusual. Most plays were all men with a token woman. This was all women with a token man. On top of that, it was a play about women written by a man. At the time, all of the plays about women were feminist plays. They had a point to prove. Although "The Steamie" didn't preach a message, it was revolutionary for its day.'
– Tony Roper.
'The Steamie' conjures up a nostalgic view of a disappearing Glasgow in the years after the Second World War.
The four contrasting women are immediately recognisable as types, the dialogue and vocal repartee is sharp and the mood is poignant and hilarious by turns. The practical business of the night – the washing and drying – is fascinating on stage.
Tony Roper showed the script to all the major theatres in Scotland – who rejected it because 'nothing happened in it'. It was then taken up by actress Elaine C Smith and Wildcat Stage Productions. Songs by David Anderson were added and it was a surprise success, being revived many times.
A television production with Dorothy Paul and Katy Murphy from the original cast was also outstandingly popular. As the original publicity put it: 'It's worth burstin yer biler tae see.'
'The play has a kind of hilarious perfection.'
– The Scotsman.
'It is a warm and affectionate tribute to a community spirit in Glasgow which some remembered and many half-remembered or even imagined had existed. The play’s success was a direct comment on the sense of displacement which so many in Glasgow felt over the huge and often insensitive programme of urban improvement which the city had undergone in the 50s and 60s.'
– Alasdair Cameron, 'Scot-free'.
'The four Glaswegian biddies who rub, scrub and gossip their way … one Hogmanay eve back in the fifties create a clubbable camaraderie from their labours in a way entirely lacking today … Hearts are worn on rolled-up sleeves. It is impossible not to adore every rose-tinted minute.'
– Jack Tinker, 'Daily Mail'.
'I have never felt an outpouring of emotion, recognition and validation particularly from women in Scotland, in any theatre piece since. It was wonderful.'
– Elaine C Smith.
© National Library of Scotland 2010