Profile: David Leddy
 |
 |
David Leddy is a playwright, director, performer and producer based in Glasgow. He has been described as 'one of the most exciting and energetic artists working in British theatre today' by Total Theatre magazine and 'the rising star of Scottish Theatre' by The Observer. The List rated him at no 30 in their Top 100 Creative People in Scotland. |
Since coming to Scotland four years ago he has concentrated on making a triptych of solo shows but in the past his work has covered many areas from site-specific performance art to physical theatre. He is also halfway through a practice-based PhD in contemporary performance.
|
David has had a particularly busy time over the last few months, presenting three pieces of work. In February he appeared as one of the headline acts at National Review of Live Art. He showed Tympanic, an audio tour performance that audience members listened to on headphones. This was followed by In The Shade at the Tron in May.
All of Leddy’s solo shows have been an experiment in mixing high academic theory with supposedly ‘low’, popular forms such as the murder-mystery and romantic Cinderella stories. In The Shade was no exception as it took highly academic theories on racism, gender and postmodernism and mixed them in with a drag, black-face minstrel cabaret! Thankfully the risk paid off and the show received a great reception. This was followed by an extremely successful restaging of Through The Night at Scotland’s Theatre Gateway during Edinburgh Fringe. |
|
|
Since January he has been one of the companies working in the Space 11 pilot project run by Vanishing Point at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow. Sharing an office with other companies has been a rewarding experience. He says ‘The office is always buzzing and it’s on a corridor with lots of other companies who you can chat to, ask advice from, and generally feel like part of a community.’
 |
|
As well as his work as an artist, David works as a producer and arts consultant. For two and a half years he ran Glasgay, Scotland’s gay arts festival. He managed to double the festival’s funding, triple the press coverage and quadruple the audience to nearly 7000 people. |
Recently, he contributed to a major retrospective of the legendary John Berger at London’s South Bank Centre, featuring international artists such as Complicite, Juliet Stevenson, Michael Ondaatje, and John Berger himself.
Now that he is coming towards the end of his work on the triptych of solo shows, he plans to return to his original focus of writing, devising and directing. He says ‘I don’t know how it happened, but I’ve ended up spending most of my working life alone, which is a bit dull. I really want to be in a gang again.’
|
Glasgay! runs until 20 November 2005. Not just for gay people, it's a chance for everyone to embrace diversity, to promote tolerance and understanding of gay people as positive role models, and to celebrate queer culture. To find out more about Glasgay! and other festivals throughout Scotland, visit the festivals section. | |