Guest Blog: EDINBURGH 2024: Michael Burnett on THE BOOKIES

“It’s aw aboot the bright lights and the noises,” says our hapless betting shop manager, Pat, a customer-loathing forty-something who’s busy describing to his cashier near the start of the play how susceptible anyone can become to the ‘’Crack cocaine of gambling’’ - FOBT machines, otherwise known as “Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.” And so lies what is at the very heart of the show, what myself and co-writer, Joe McCann, set out to achieve when we were first commissioned to write the script by Dundee Rep back in 2022 - a unique and entertaining play that tackles the largely unknown epidemic of FOBT addiction. And, you know, I should know. I am something of a veteran of the industry myself. In fact, I still work in the gambling industry to this very day.

So, what our audiences are guaranteed to see is the most authentic depiction of a Bookies ever brought to life on a stage. It’s the most unique form of retail on the High Street, and if an audience member walks into one of our performances at Summerhall this August having never experienced a betting shop before, then I can guarantee them that by the time the lights go up, that will have all changed.

The play is written almost entirely in a strong Edinburgh dialect, too. The sort of East Coast Scots which ensures that  genuine working-class voices and characters are depicted on stage. They aren’t caricatures - they’re the real thing. So rare in the theatre industry these days. But I guess it helps if both writers are, like myself and Joe, genuinely working-class. That has always been the aim for both Joe and me as individual writers, having our shows on, or, with collaborative efforts such as here with The Bookies. We are both fiercely passionate playwrights seeking to deliver relatable and enjoyable theatre to people from similar backgrounds as ourselves. I firmly believe we have achieved this with The Bookies.

And there really is no more appropriate a place for it to be revived than at Summerhall during The Edinburgh Fringe. The play is, after all, set in the capital - just makes sense that it will finally be performed there.  Don’t get me wrong, though. I know the whole FOBT angle in the play does hint towards a Bookies being a place of utter misery and despair. That isn’t true, which is why The Bookies as a show  isn’t all about the dark side of the gambling industry. There’s plenty of banter throughout to be enjoyed, as there is in real life whenever I work behind a counter. Fast-paced, verbal ping-pong dialogue. A style of writing we as writers both adore and have for years tried to adopt. 

And, having already witnessed laugh-out-loud reactions from audiences when the play ran for three weeks up at Dundee Rep, myself and Joe are both extremely confident of our Fringe audiences being given a very fun night out at the theatre. I should probably add, too, the gambling industry has changed for the better since the time our story is set. We meet our four characters just prior to governmental legislation kicking in which had the sole purpose of negating FOBT addiction. As a result, things have improved. And I personally happen to work for the best betting company in the world who strive to uphold our responsible gambling pledges to our customers every single day. Unfortunately, however, I can’t say the same for other companies. Companies such as the one in The Bookies. So, if you want to see what they’re really like, come see our show.

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