Men Should Weep

We were fortunate to go as guests of the National Theatre of Scotland to their production of "Men Should Weep" at the King's in Edinburgh. Written in 1947 by Ena Lamont Stewart (1912-2006), it was based on her experience of seeing poverty-stricken women in Glasgow's Gorbals and the results of malnutrition she saw working as a nurse in the Sick Children's Hospital.

With plenty moments of humour and some hideous moments of heart-breaking tragedy, what underlies it all is the relentless punishment of unemployment and poverty, and its impact on a Glasgow family. The man of the house, a decent upstanding man, cannot get work, and though his wife cleans to earn a crust, the poverty of their situation and its effect on their family is something they just cannot beat, brought to a hideous focus when their daughter leaves home to take up with her "fancy man" and brings home her earnings to offer to rehouse them to help the youngest child who is dying of TB because of their damp house. The angst this causes the father is unbearable and breaks him.

This is not a cheery play, and despite the almost indefatigable spirit of the various women, that the poverty breaks the man is painful to witness.

All set in a steel container dressed as a two-room tenement flat, the grimness of it cannot fail to move you.

Ena Lamont Stewart failed to please the critics and her subsequent works got nowhere, but "Men Should Weep" is now recognised by many as one of the great works of the 20th century. That the NTS has elected to champion this work is another reminder of what a jewel the NTS is in Scotland's cultural crown.