From Broadway to Play, Pie and a Pint - the Glasgow writer championing grassroots Scottish theatre

He is the writer of iconic, interactive play Every Brilliant Thing, which has completed a Broadway run starring Daniel Radcliffe and is now embarking on a US tour.

But Glasgow playwright Jonny Donahoe has opted to debut his latest play, Contact, at a “unique” grassroots theatre in Glasgow which he says is “vital” to developing new writing in Scotland.

Donahoe’s latest work, Contact, starring Blythe Duff, which looks at the relationship between a semi-estranged mother and son, has been premiered at grassroots theatre series a Play, Pie and a Pint in Glasgow’s Oran Mor - which he says is the “lifeblood of new plays” in Scotland.

It is now touring through the Play, Pie and a Pint series to Edinburgh and then Paisley.

Donahoe said: “It’s vital. You can’t have a generation of new writers without this, it’s the lifeblood of new plays in this country, in my humble opinion.

“I love it. I’m very proud to be a writer in Scotland, creating Scottish work. This is so unique. I don’t know anywhere that has this, where 32 plays a year get made. It’s such a luxury of resource. I'm so proud to work in it, every city needs one of these”.

Other Play, Pie and a Pint success stories include new musical Wallace by Rob Drummond and Dave Hook, which debuted as an hour-long show in Oran Mor last year and has recently toured a full-length version to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Meanwhile, other writers whose work has been staged through the initiative include Liz Lochhead, Jackie Kay, Douglas Maxwell, Rona Munro, David Ireland, while the scheme is also credited with being integral to the careers of famous names including Robbie Coltrane, Mel Giedroyc, Karen Dunbar and Elaine C Smith.

Blythe Duff and Mark Barrett in Contact. | Play, Pie and a Pint

Mr Donahoe said Every Brilliant Thing, which he co-wrote with Duncan Macmillan, had had humble beginnings in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

He said: “Every Brilliant Thing went to the Fringe and toured and played all round the world, then it played in the West End in 2025. This year, it’s been on Broadway with Daniel.

“The point is, this isn’t very different in so far as that started with us sat in a room trying to build something. And when you make a two-hander chamber piece you want to start like this - and this is the unique thing we have in Scotland, we have this thriving scene of small scale stuff. It’s massive scale in the ambition if you look at what has come from here, but it’s small scale in terms of ‘we can throw this together’ and people will come and see it immediately and we can learn things.”

Jonny Donahoe has taken Contact to Play, Pie and a Pint. | Jonny Donahoe

He pointed to the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) which has repeatedly rewarded performances from Play, Pie and a Pint.

He said: “The best new play and the best actor awards keep being won by this tiny lunchtime theatre that gets two weeks of rehearsal and very little money and that says something incredible about what they’re doing, so I wanted to be a part of that.

“I’m very proud to start here. What you always hope with a play here is that you get the opportunity to try something more dangerous. Because it’s only on for a week, you get the luxury of being a bit more rogue than if someone was spending £200,000 on it. It also has this incredible loyal audience that you get to do that. It can be a chance to do something that’s unlike anything else, or it’s a chance to build and grow something.

“Because I’ve already had a show that built and grew, I know it’s possible. That doesn’t mean it will happen, but it opens the door.”