Educated at Robert Gordon's College and the University of Aberdeen,[2] he lived in London and then in Edinburgh (in Warriston Crescent).
From the time he adapted Molière's L'Ecole des Femmes for the Scottish stage in 1947 he sought to promote a distinctly national drama, often employing Scots dialogue.
[3] His A Trump for Jericho, a comedy set in the New Town of Edinburgh at the time of the Disruption in 1843 was first performed by the Scottish National Players in 1947.
[5] In 1948, working with Tyrone Guthrie, he staged a revival of Scotland's first Scottish play, David Lyndsay's Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis and, also in 1948, he coined the phrase “Edinburgh Festival Fringe”.
[6] His adaptation of Allan Ramsay's The Gentle Shepherd was staged at the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland in 1949.