Alexander Reid (1914–1982) was a Scottish playwright and poet,[1] "one of the neglected dramatists of the Scottish Renaissance".[2] His two best-known plays are The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou (1950), based on the legend of Thomas the Rhymer and The Warld's Wonder (1953), about Michael Scot, the famous magician.[3]
Alexander Reid was born on 19 August 1914 in Edinburgh, and educated at George Heriot's School. From 1929 to 1936 he worked as a journalist for the Edinburgh Evening News, before writing on Scottish history and literature for the SMT Magazine. A conscientious objector during World War II, he worked as a bookseller and accountant before becoming a full-time writer and broadcaster in 1948.
The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou was first performed at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre in November 1950. It was adapted as a television drama, first broadcast by the BBC on Tuesday 6 October 1953,[4] and was staged again by Edinburgh's Gateway Theatre Company during its 1954-55 season. The Warld's Wonder was produced at the Gateway in the autumn of 1958.[5]
Reid's short stories include The Kitten[6] and A Warm Golden Brown.[7]
Reid edited the Saltire Society's quarterly Saltire Review from 1954 until 1960.[8] He died in Edinburgh on 1 July 1982.[2]