David MacLannan, painted by Sandy Moffat
I first met David MacLennan in 2009 in, of course, the Òran Mór bar. My first thought was: what remarkable clothes!
Being new to theatre, I was unaware of David’s history at first, knowing him only as the flamboyant and jovial host of the immensely popular lunchtime series, A Play, A Pie and a Pint. Having arrived in the West End of Glasgow in 2004, just as Òran Mór was launching David’s initiative, it quickly became part of my cultural diet. I was very much one of the untapped new audience for theatre that David was intending to reach, and that time spent watching plays bloom to life before me – among full, spellbound houses – was one of the reasons why I wanted to be a playwright in the first place, to be part of it. There is just something magical and also very Glaswegian about entering that basement venue in Òran Mór, like going through the wardrobe into Narnia, except with some bevy and a pie.
