Issue of the day: The Steamie

The comedy-drama is set in a Glasgow wash-house and follows the lives of a group of women as they try to get their laundry completed in the run up to the Hogmanay bells in 1953, with their chatter at the heart of the play.

A wash-house?

For the uninitiated, the "steamie" was a communal facility where the clothes were cleaned in the pre-washing machine era and on Hogmanay, it was a tradition for everything to be cleaned for the New Year –the house, clothes, curtains…

If you are the "talk of the steamie"?

The saying lives on, meaning you are the subject of hot gossip, just as you would have been discussed by the women as they did their laundry back in the day.

The play is one of Scotland’s biggest theatre success stories?

It is now, but was initially rejected repeatedly by theatres and TV production firms. Then in stepped the Wildcat Theatre Company, which had been offered an out-of-the-blue grant for a play specifically about a community and had no time to commission one. It took a chance on The Steamie, that had been criticised for having no plot as such, rather focusing on the women’s conversation as a narrative.

Tony Roper’s the writer?

Now 78, Glasgow-born Roper is the writer and director. His first major starring role was in the sketch show, Scotch and Wry, starring Rikki Fulton.

It was memorably filmed for STV?

First staged at Jordanhill College in Glasgow in 1987, an enduring version was made by STV for Hogmanay 1988, starring Dorothy Paul, Katy Murphy, Eileen McCallum and Peter Mullan.

The Steamie was revolutionary?

Mr Roper said it broke new ground “because it was written by an actor", adding: “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. 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.”

It’s back in Glasgow?

It takes to the stage of the SSE Hydro tonight, with the last performance of the run on Hogmanay.

Roper is glad to see his work return to the city?

He said: “In my late 40s I sat down with a Biro and a jotter and wrote my first ever play. Over three decades later, the play is still getting the laughs and the cries, connecting with another generation of Scots.

"I cannot wait to bring the show – with more music and a spectacular cast – to the country’s biggest entertainment venue.”

MAUREEN SUGDEN