The English and Scottish Arts Councils are to encourage touring productions in each other's areas. Our Kingdom may be United but its various Arts Councils have often acted as if they belonged to entirely different nations. This is set to change, with more than £700,000 allocated between the English and Scottish arts councils for a fund to encourage tours (dance as well as drama) between the two countries, for the year 2001/2002.

The Arts Council of England has expressed its hope that this example of co-operation, of opening new doors of opportunity for theatre companies, will encourage cross-border touring, and in an early take-up of the opportunities offered, the National Theatre's production of the Dutch classic play (relocated to Whitby) The Good Hope, directed by Bill Bryden, will appear in Scotland in February.

Artistic cross-fertilisation between England and Scotland (and Wales, and Northern Ireland) is not entirely dependendent on subsidy of course, as the National's promotion of Gagarin Way at this year's Edinburgh Festival and its subsequent appearance at the National's London home (previews from Sept. 28) has shown.

For information on Gagarin Way at the National Theatre (Cottesloe). Call 020 7452 3000

— by Paul Webb Theatrenow