Glasgow, 1957. A family destroyed. A man who insists he knows why.
Between whisky-soaked confessions and half-truths swirling in cigarette smoke, William Watt and Peter Manuel share a night that will change everything. Winding through stale-aired bars, shadowed backstreets and tangled lies leading to one of the most infamous trials in Scottish history.
From one of Scotland's most acclaimed crime writers, Denise Mina, and adapted by award-winning playwright Linda McLean, The Long Drop is an electrifying new play equal parts psychological thriller and pitch-black comedy. Gritty and gripping, it plunges us into a world of gangsters, gossip, and half-truths told over one too many drinks.
It is premiered at the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow, in 2026.
Denise Mina is a Scottish writer whose novels include the bestseller Garnethill (winner of the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Award), Exile and Resolution.
A stage version of her non-fiction novel, The Long Drop, adapted by Linda McLean, was premiered at the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow, in 2026.
Linda McLean is a Scottish playwright based in Glasgow. Her plays include Glory on Earth, Every Five Minutes, Any Given Day, Sex & God, strangers, babies, Shimmer, Riddance, One Good Beating and Thingummy Bob.
She has written stage adaptations of Alice Munro's The View From Castle Rock for Stellar Quines and the EIBF, and of Denise Mina's The Long Drop for Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow.
Linda was the Creative Fellow at Edinburgh Universitys Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities in 2011. She was Chair of the Playwrights Studio, Scotland from 20082015, and she is an artistic associate of Magic Theatre, San Francisco.
An anthology of her work, translated into French by Sarah Vermande and Blandine Pelissiér, was published in 2015 by Actes Sud-Papiers.
