{{Short description|English theatre director and playwright}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
'''Graham Eatough''' (born 1971) is an English theatre director and playwright, based in Scotland. He was a founding member of theatre company Suspect Culture.
==Early life== Eatough was born in Blackburn in 1971.<ref name="common guild">{{cite web |url=https://www.thecommonguild.org.uk/programme/project/at-twilight-a-play-for-two-actors-three-musicians-one-dancer-eight-masks-and-a-donkey-costume-74wr |title=The Common Guild |access-date=18 March 2018 |archive-date=19 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319084715/https://www.thecommonguild.org.uk/programme/project/at-twilight-a-play-for-two-actors-three-musicians-one-dancer-eight-masks-and-a-donkey-costume-74wr |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="scotsman macmillan">{{cite news |url=https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-director-graham-eatough-on-tramway-s-new-show-that-was-four-years-in-the-making-1-4469118 |title=Theatre: Director Graham Eatough on Tramway's new show that was four years in the making |work=The Scotsman |date=13 June 2017 |access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref> He attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} before studying English and Drama at University of Bristol, where he was a contemporary of Sarah Kane, Simon Pegg, and David Greig,<ref name="Suspect Culture book">Dan Rebellato, Graham Eatough and David Greig. [http://oberonbooks.com/suspect-culture ''The Suspect Culture Book''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603145121/http://oberonbooks.com/suspect-culture |date=2016-06-03 }}, London: Oberon Books, 2013, p.9. {{ISBN|9781849430876}}</ref> graduating in 1992.<ref name="Scotsman 2Aug2003">{{cite news |url=https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/a-symbiotic-double-act-1-658193 |title=A Symbiotic double act |work=The Scotsman |date=2 August 2003 |access-date=17 March 2018}}</ref>
==Career== After graduating university, Eatough relocated to Glasgow and co-founded theatre company Suspect Culture with playwright David Greig and composer Nick Powell.<ref name="Suspect Culture book" /> Initially working as a deviser and actor on early productions such as ''One Way Street'' (1995)<ref name="Scotland Plays">Philip Howard, Catherine Lucy Czerkawska. [http://www.nlb.gov.sg/biblio/11110974 ''Scotland Plays''], London: Nick Hern Books, 1998. {{ISBN|1854593838}}</ref> and ''Airport'' (1995), Eatough soon took on the role of director. He remained in that capacity for the remainder of Suspect Culture's shows, including productions such as ''Timeless'' (1997), ''Mainstream'' (1999), ''Candide 2000'' (2000), ''Casanova'' (2001), ''Lament'' (2002), and ''8000m'' (2004).<ref name="Suspect Culture book"/> He also served as the theatre company's artistic director.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/graham-eatough/ |title=Graham Eatough |access-date=18 March 2018 |archive-date=19 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319084559/https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/graham-eatough/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="scotsman macmillan"/>
Suspect Culture disbanded as a theatre company in 2009,<ref>Liz Tomlin. [http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/135278/ ''British Theatre Companies''], London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2015, p.179. {{ISBN|9781408177273}}.</ref> after which Eatough continued to work as a freelance theatre maker. His work is often collaborative, especially across different artistic disciplines, such as visual arts and film.<ref name="Glasgow International">{{cite web|url=https://glasgowinternational.org/artists/graham-eatough/ |title=Glasgow International}}</ref> In 2012, Eatough and visual artist Graham Fagen created ''The Making of Us'', a work presented as a live filmic installation<ref name="Cooper Gallery">{{cite web|url=https://www.dundee.ac.uk/cooper-gallery/events/the-making-of-us/ |title=University of Dundee: Cooper Gallery}}</ref> at Glasgow's Tramway performance centre, and later released as a film.<ref name="Brit Film Council">{{cite web|url=http://film.britishcouncil.org/the-making-of-us |title=British Film Council}}</ref><ref name="imdb mou">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3401396/ |title=The Making of Us}}</ref> Fagen had previously worked with Suspect Culture on the visual arts exhibition ''Killing Time'' in 2006.<ref name="Suspect Culture book"/><ref name="Guardian 11Sept2006">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2006/sep/11/art |title=Killing Time |work=The Guardian |date=11 September 2006 |access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref> Eatough collaborated with conceptual artist Simon Starling on ''‘At Twilight: A play for two actors, three musicians, one dancer, eight masks (and a donkey costume)’'', a production commissioned by The Common Guild in 2016.<ref name="common guild"/> In 2015, Eatough and Glasgow-based artist Stephen Sutcliffe were awarded the Contemporary Art Society Annual Award<ref name="contemp award">{{cite web|url=https://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/news/stephen-sutcliffe-and-graham-eatough-win-the-40000-contemporary-art-society-annual-award-2015/ |title=Stephen Sutcliffe and Graham Eatough Win The £40,000 Contemporary Art Society Annual Award 2015}}</ref> to develop two short films based on Anthony Burgess' book series about fictional poet Enderby. The project, entitled ''No End to Enderby'' was premiered at the Manchester International Festival, and took the form of two short films based on the first and last chapter of the four ''Enderby'' novels. The films were originally screened at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester in September 2017,<ref name="whitworth">{{cite web|url=https://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/pastexhibitions/noendtoenderby/ |title=No End to Enderby}}</ref><ref name="mif">{{cite web|url=https://mif.co.uk/previous-festivals/mif17/no-end-to-enderby/ |title=No End to Enderby: A Work by Graham Eatough and Stephen Sutcliffe}}</ref> and were also shown as part of the Glasgow International Festival in 2018.<ref name="Glasgow International"/> Eatough directed an adaptation of Naoki Higashida's autobiographical novel The Reason I Jump, which was produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and will be performed at the Children's Wood and North Kelvin Meadow in Glasgow in June 2018.<ref name="NTS Reason I Jump">{{cite web |url=https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/production/the-reason-i-jump/ |title=The Reason I Jump |access-date=9 June 2018 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142114/https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/production/the-reason-i-jump/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Children's Wood">{{cite web|url=https://www.thechildrenswood.co.uk/ |title=The Children's Wood and North Kelvin Meadow}}</ref>
In 2015, Eatough reunited with Suspect Culture collaborators David Greig and Nick Powell for a stage adaptation of Alasdair Gray's 1981 novel ''Lanark''.<ref name="EIF Lanark">{{cite web|url=https://www.eif.co.uk/whats-on/2015/lanark |title=Edinburgh International Festival: Lanark}}</ref> The play premiered as part of the Edinburgh International Festival at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in August 2015, before moving to Glasgow's Citizens Theatre.<ref name="Guardian 19Aug2015">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/aug/19/david-greig-graham-eatough-adapting-lanark-alasdair-gray-edinburgh-royal-lyceum-citizens-theatre |title=Alasdair Gray's Lanark hits the stage |work=The Guardian |date=19 August 2015 |access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref>
Eatough's practice-led academic research led to the play ''How to Act'',<ref name="oberon">{{cite web |url=https://www.oberonbooks.com/how-to-act.html |title=How to Act |access-date=18 March 2018 |archive-date=19 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319003929/https://www.oberonbooks.com/how-to-act.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> which was produced by the National Theatre of Scotland.<ref name="wordpress">{{cite web|url=https://talkingdramaturgy.wordpress.com/2018/03/05/tragedy-truth-and-composition-in-process-talking-dramaturgy-with-graham-eatough/ |title=Tragedy, truth and composition in process: talking dramaturgy with Graham Eatough}}</ref><ref name="nts">{{cite web |url=https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/production/how-to-act/ |title=How to Act |access-date=18 March 2018 |archive-date=19 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319084622/https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/production/how-to-act/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The play premiered at Summerhall during the 2017 Edinburgh International Festival,<ref name="summerhall">{{cite web|url=https://festival17.summerhall.co.uk/event/how-to-act/ |title=National Theatre of Scotland: How to Act}}</ref> and toured across Scotland in March 2018.<ref name="nts"/>
He has worked as a lecturer in theatre studies at University of Glasgow since 2012,<ref name="Glasgow Uni page">{{cite web|url=https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/cca/staff/grahameatough/ |title=University of Glasgow: School of Culture & Creative Arts}}</ref> and was awarded a Ph.D. from Lancaster University in 2016.<ref name="Lancaster University">{{cite web|url=https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/from-platos-cave-to-tragic-truth(560c9ce8-44d6-425d-8472-c1b9fdf9a8db).html |title=From Plato's cave to tragic truth: a theoric journey between theatre and the visual arts}}</ref>
==Selected works== ===With Suspect Culture=== * ''One Way Street'' (1995) * ''Airport'' (1995) * ''Mainstream'' (1999) * ''Casanova'' (2001) * ''Lament'' (2002) * ''8000m'' (2004) * ''Futurology'' (2007) * ''Stage Fright'' (2009)
===Post-Suspect Culture=== * ''The Making of Us'' (2012) * ''Lanark'' (2015) * ''‘At Twilight: A play for two actors, three musicians, one dancer, eight masks (and a donkey costume)’'' (2016) * ''No End to Enderby'' (2017) * ''How to Act'' (2017) * ''The Reason I Jump'' (2018)
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links== * [https://www.grahameatough.com/ Graham Eatough official website] * {{IMDb name|id=3771597|name=Graham Eatough}} * [https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/cca/staff/grahameatough/ University of Glasgow]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eatough, Graham}} Category:1971 births Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol Category:English male dramatists and playwrights Category:21st-century English dramatists and playwrights Category:Living people