Rob Drummond talks control

Rob Drummond has been working up a reputation as one of Scotland's more prolific writers and performers. A long association with The Arches has seen him move away from the script towards more improvisational pieces, and his latest offering, Mr Write, ventures towards the sort of free theatre embodied by the likes of Playback.

Despite his body of scripted plays, Drummond has always been fascinated by looser performances. "I used to watch Whose Line is it Anyway – really from too young an age to understand most of the jokes," he says. "But what I loved was the liveness – the fact that anything could happen. It made it dangerous and it made them gods in my eyes for being able to do it. I learned improv without even knowing it from watching those shows and when I turned my hand to it again as an adult I found it came naturally."

Having remade Peer Gynt and looked at teenage sex rituals, for Mr Write Drummond has followed this inspiration. "I am making theatre this way more and more now because of the excitement it produces." He admits that this approach has benefits:"From a purely selfish point of view, I'm good at it and people clap. Which is nice for the ego. People think it's scary but it's exactly the opposite. If an audience knows something is improvised they are more likely to cut the performer some slack – to understand and forgive mistakes. It's scarier for me watching something I've written or performing something I have rehearsed because then, there are no excuses."

Against the tightly controlled scripts of 16  and The Gyntish Self, Mr Write, along with his recent "after-show discussion" at Arches Live (a discussion for a show that never happened), suggests that Drummond is loosening his grip on the play and letting the audience dictate his performance. This, he points out, is only partially true.

"You lose control only on a surface level. I always make sure I have a solid structure, a skeleton to hang the show over." Yet there are advantages. "Losing a certain amount of control is good – it keeps you on your toes. My job in Mr Write is to allow the audience and more specifically the individual volunteer to decide what happens in the gaps between the solid parts without losing sight of how the show hangs together as a whole. It's about allowing the audience ownership over the finished product. In losing a little bit of control; things can happen that you would never have dreamt of putting in."

Mr Write is being produced by the National Theatre of Scotland, and is another example of their willingness to engage with newer performers. While there has been some criticism for the lack of classic plays being staged, the NTS has obviously decided that its role is to nurture the present Scottish crop and not polish past jewels.

"The NTS, as far as I am aware, do not seek out particular 'types' of show but rather work according to the artist's needs and demands," Drummond suggests. "As a result they do end up commissioning a lot of different styles of work, but it's usually artist-oriented. This year I am working on Mr Write, a very non-traditional piece but have also been commissioned to write a new full length play, with characters and a plot and a very solid fourth wall."  As part of the team that created one of the Allotment events, Drumond has supported the NTS in both traditional and experimental ventures. Their freedom to roam between styles is reflected in Drummond's own process.

"When I have an idea for a show I find a form which suits that particular idea and a role for myself that best suits the development of the idea, whether that is as a writer, director, performer or all of the above. It's great having more than one way to approach something. It seldom happens the other way around – I've got to create a particular type of theatre, now what could it be about? I don't try to fit a round peg into a square hole."