David Leddy is a playwright, performer and producer based in Glasgow. He has been described as 'the rising star of Scottish Theatre' by The Observer, a ‘theatrical maverick’ by the FT and 'one of the most exciting and energetic artists working in British theatre today' by Total Theatre magazine. Scotland’s top entertainment magazine, The List, have rated Leddy at no 30 in their Top 100 creative people in Scotland.

He has presented at some of the UK’s most prestigious venues for contemporary performance such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Riverside Studios and Pleasance. Outside Scotland, his work has been shown in London, Amsterdam, Boston and Buenos Aires. He has also been commissioned as a headline act for the National Review of Live Art. He is also a consultant for the Cultural Enterprise Office as well as a specialist advisor for the Scottish Arts Council.

His work is studied on various undergraduate degree courses in the UK and he is also the first person in Scotland to complete a practice-based PhD in theatre. Click here to read the PhD abstract. He has taught undergraduates at both Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow.

In recent years he has focused on two ongoing series of work – The Corbicula Cycle and The Auricula Series.

The Corbicula shows are a triptych of solo performances that aim to combine the intellectual stimulation of performance art with the more playful pleasures of comedy and parody. They were also the practical element of the PhD research. On The Edge (2001) was presented at The Arches, Glasgow before being invited back the following year and going on to Edinburgh Fringe in 2002. Through The Night (2004) also premiered at The Arches before going on to a highly successful run at the Fringe in 2005. In The Shade (2005) was presented to critical acclaim at the Tron theatre, Glasgow.

The Auricula pieces are a series of site-specific audio works that are listened to on headphones in particular locations. They combine part radio play, part tour guide, part avant-garde sonic art and part stroll in the park. The first of these, Tympanic, was presented to sell-out capacity at the National Review of Live Art. The second, Susurrus, was created for Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens and received critical acclaim and sell-out audiences. The third, Reekie, was commissioned by East to Edinburgh to be presented at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2006.

From 2002 to 2004, David was also the producer of Glasgay (‘the UK's largest multi-arts festival for multi-sexual people and their friends!’), making him one of the youngest festival producers in the country at the time. He managed to attract high-profile international artists such as Annie Sprinkle, Diamanda Galás, Split Britches, Ursula Martinez and Tim Miller, all of whom presented premieres for him. Audience numbers quadrupled to nearly 7000 people, levels of funding doubled and press coverage tripled, garnering attention as far afield as Madrid, New York, Toronto and San Francisco. In 2005 he also worked as a contributing producer on a major retrospective of John Berger at London’s South Bank Centre, working with artists such as Simon McBurney’s Theatre de Complicite, Juliet Stevenson, Michael Ondaatje and John Berger himself.