The Slab Boys Trilogy is a set of three plays by the Scottish playwright John Byrne.

The three plays which make up the trilogy are: The Slab Boys, Cuttin' a Rug, and Still Life.

The trilogy tells the story of a group of young, urban, working-class Scots during the period 1957–1972.

The Slab Boys Trilogy was revived in 2003 by the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh starring Paul Thomas Hickey and Iain Robertson in the lead roles.

This is the first time that the Traverse Theatre have ever done a revival and it was received to great critical success.

In April 2008, the Traverse Theatre premièred Nova Scotia,[1] the fourth part of The Slab Boys story which follows the characters of Phil, Spanky and Lucille into the 21st century.

In The Slab Boys, all the action takes place in the morning and afternoon of a Friday in 1957.

The company was based on Stoddard's carpet factory in Elderslie near Paisley, where John Byrne worked both as a slab boy and later as a designer following graduation from art school.

Directed by David Hayman, and designed by Grant Hicks, the cast included, as Hector, Patrick Doyle, now better known as a Scottish film composer and Robbie Coltrane as Jack Hogg.

[5] It was first performed as a Broadway production starring Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn, Val Kilmer and Jackie Earle Haley, produced by Laura Shapiro Kramer and Roberta Weissman, and directed by Robert Alan Ackerman, at the Playhouse Theatre in New York City in 1983.

[7][8] It starred Anna Massey, Tom Watson and Julie Wilson Nimmo.

This story focuses on a handful of young people who have to grow up fast in the tough working-class culture of 1950s industrial Scotland.

In 1958 he was accepted to the Art School, unlike the character Phil McCann, whose application is refused.

The opening scene introduces the three incumbent slab boys bantering away on a Friday morning.

Phil and Spanky are the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid of the slab room and Hector is the target and source of most of their humour.

Jack brings with him Alan Downie – an obviously better-off youngster whose father knows the boss, and who is going to work in the company for a while before going off to University.

Once some of the early hilarity subsides, we learn that Phil's mother has been yet-again incarcerated in a ward for the mentally unstable.

We also find out the real reason for Phil being late this morning: he was presenting his portfolio at the Glasgow School of Art.

Sadie is also selling tickets for the Staff Dance that takes place that night.

How they do this is by crudely tailoring his already crudely-tailored clothing and attempting to give him a haircut, but succeed only in injuring his scalp with the scissors.

Before he can reach the punch line, Hector's bloodied face appears at the window and terrifies her.

There thus ensues some typical farce as Hector is hidden during various walk-ons by Jack, Lucille and Mr. Curry.

It appears that, following a recent mastectomy, he even threw out her prosthetic breast, believing it to be a burst football.

While he is digesting this a note arrives that his mother, who had briefly escaped from the asylum, is back in custody.

Finally, Curry appears, telling Phil and Spanky that they'll need to stay behind to work for a rush-job.

Spanky knuckles under and gets back to grinding the paste as Phil, despite all that has happened, exits optimistic and undefeated.

The original version of Cuttin' a Rug, The Loveliest Night of the Year, was first performed at the Traverse Theatre Club, Edinburgh, on 19 May 1979.

Cuttin' a Rug is set in Paisley Town Hall, on a Friday evening in 1957.

Sadie complains to Miss Walkinshaw about Mr Curry stopping her on the way to the dance, and offering her a job as his cleaner.

In Act One, Hector has just been buried, and Spanky – now a rockstar – and Phil are reminiscing about their time in the Slab Room.