Individual and national identity as relational discourse in David Greig’s play "Airport" (1995)

David Greig’s theatrical opera omnia explores the theme of individual and national identity as a relational discourse combining one’s rootedness in a specific context with the experience of the ‘Other’ (other places, cultures, languages). The aim of the article will be to examine this theme in Greig’s play Airport (1995) by focusing on the representation of national identity (Scottish but not only) as resulting from the relationships with other geo-cultural realities. Produced by the experimental theatre company Suspect Culture and regarded by several critics as Greig’s most Europeist play, Airport encourages reflections on what being European means, the pros and cons of globalisation, the liquid state of modern society, and the fluidity of personal vis à vis national relations. The play presents an episodic structure consisting of twenty-three scenes set in a par-excellence non-place, or transitional space, like an international airport, which Greig deploys as a paradigm of linguistic exchanges/cacophonies and cultural encounters/clashes. In the airport “contact zone” the characters attempt to communicate mostly through a body language ironically reflecting national stereotypes. Ultimately, the play poses questions about cultural identity, as well as the elusiveness of “Scottishness” and other national constructs. At the same time, in Airport Greig suggests an idea of the European collective defined by common threads which challengingly cross national boundaries and debunk false myths of sovereignty.