Men Should Weep (originally called Quancos Should Dance) is a play by Ena Lamont Stewart, first staged in 1947.
Men Should Weep was written for the Glasgow Unity Theatre and first produced in January 1947,[2] but only received great acclaim when revived in 1982 by 7:84 Company Scotland.
[3] Playwright Edward Boyd, who played '1st removal man' in the 1947 premiere, commented in The Scotsman in 1983 that: "On the first night of its revival, a group of us, all survivors from the original Unity Theatre production, met in the bar at the interval, looked at each other, and shook our heads sadly.
The original play was harsh and umcompromising and tragic ... Grafting on a happy ending turned it into a piece of shadow boxing.
Male and female roles in society are tackled through the characters of Maggie, a housewife, and John Morrison, who is unemployed (also the overpowering Isa and feminist Lily); the resilience of youth is displayed in the younger children, Edie and Ernest, who cope very well with the conditions; corruption is explored through Alec; the importance of community is apparent through the neighbours, Mrs Wilson, Mrs Bone and Mrs Harris, and through overall interactions in the play, and Jenny Morrison shows growth and the gain of independence.
The play is set in a winter evening in the 1930s in the kitchen of the Morrisons home in the east end of Glasgow.
The play opens on a disordered tenement household where six of the seven children, two parents and Granny of the Morrison family live.
The tone begins to darken with the mention of the troublesome son Alec and his wife Isa whose home has collapsed.
Alec and Isa arrive drunk at the Morrison household with conflicts immediately escalating between John and his son.
After Granny's bed is taken by the removal men, Maggie arrives, grief-stricken as Bertie has been kept in hospital because of Tuberculosis.
At the sight of Ernest's scuffed boots, Maggie cracks, flying into a rage at the rest of the family.