Playwright Éimi Quinn on her new play Dookin Out and why she’s backing assisted dying for Scotland
February 19, 2025
In a guest article for our news blog, playwright Éimi Quinn talks about her riotous new black comedy Dookin Out (opening at Glasgow’s Oran Mor on 24 February before heading to Edinburgh, Paisley, and Aberdeen) and why she supports assisted dying for Scotland.
A story that matters
As a playwright, I’m always looking for stories that matter—things that make people laugh, make them think, and, most importantly, get them talking. With Dookin Oot, I wanted to take on something that feels especially urgent right now: assisted dying. Scotland is on the brink of real change with Liam McArthur’s assisted dying bill moving through Holyrood. The conversations we have now could make a real difference in shaping the future. But assisted dying is a subject people often shy away from. It’s difficult, emotional, and deeply personal. That’s exactly why I wanted to write a play about it.
It’s personal
For me, the right to die with dignity isn’t just a theoretical debate—it’s something I’ve thought about deeply for a long time. I’ve watched people in my life suffer needlessly at the end, their final weeks and months defined by pain and the stripping away of their autonomy. And at 19, I had to face my own mortality when I was diagnosed with stage three cancer. That experience changed me. It made me acutely aware that none of us know what’s ahead, but when I do face my own death, I want to have a choice. I don’t want to suffer unnecessarily, and I don’t believe anyone else should have to either. We should have that control over our own bodies, right up to the very end.
At 19, I had to face my own mortality when I was diagnosed with stage three cancer. That experience changed me. It made me acutely aware that none of us know what’s ahead
But if you’ve seen my work before, you’ll know I’m not the kind of writer who tackles heavy topics with quiet solemnity [Quinn’s last play at Oran Mor, The Funeral Club (2024), was about teenage cancer patients planning a diamond heist]. I love dark comedy, and I believe laughter is one of the best ways to get people to engage with things they might otherwise avoid. Dookin Oot is no exception. It’s a madcap, chaotic play full of big, ridiculous plans and even bigger personalities. At its heart, though, it’s about autonomy, friendship, and what it means to take control of your own life—and death.
Celebrating older women
It’s also about something else I feel really strongly about: women over 50, their sexuality, and their right to still take up space, have fun, and be seen. How often do we see older women’s desires, kinks, and pleasures celebrated on stage? Not nearly enough! I wanted to change that. So I asked myself, “How can I write a play that brings together both of these things—assisted dying and older women’s sexuality?” The result is a wild, fast-paced comedy that’s full of life, even as it wrestles with the idea of death. About two older women starting an OnlyFans to raise money to send one of them to Switzerland to die. (Who says end of life care can’t stay sexy?)
Nobody should be forced to suffer through a painful, undignified death if they don’t want to. That’s why I fully support the assisted dying bill.
A crucial time
It’s been so great to chat with the Humanist Society about how my play is programmed at a time that is so crucial in the debate. For me, assisted dying is about dignity, choice, and compassion. Nobody should be forced to suffer through a painful, undignified death if they don’t want to. That’s why I fully support the assisted dying bill. It’s about giving people the right to decide what happens to their own bodies, just as we should have that right throughout our lives.
More than anything, though, I want the play to start conversations. I want people to come along, have a brilliant time, laugh themselves silly at the sheer audacity of these characters and their over-the-top plans—and then leave thinking. Maybe they’ll turn to the person next to them in the bar and say, “What would you do?” Maybe they’ll go home and have a conversation they’ve never had before. If this play can open that door for even a few people, then I’ll feel like I’ve done my job.
Tell your MSP the Time is Now for an Assisted Dying law
Please help us reach every MSP in Scotland to ask them to support Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying bill in Scotland.
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