National Galleries of Scotland

Described as “the most humorous of Scotsmen”, Graham Moffat was an actor, director and playwright. Moffat wrote for Scottish actors and audiences with a vision of establishing a Scottish national theatre. His most successful comedy, ‘Bunty Pulls the Strings’ (1910), was a worldwide hit - most spectacularly in London’s West End and on Broadway. An American reviewer reflected on its “gorgeously amusing reflection of dour Scotch life, its delicious bits of satire on customs and manners grown into disuse”, all of which the newspaper reported provoked “rapid-fire laughter”. Moffat’s plays were regarded as “good, clean plays” which relied on farce and physical comedy for laughs. ‘Bunty’ was later made into a Hollywood silent film.