 After studying Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths College, University of London, Gilmour's first play "The Piano Lesson" (2005), a work based on the Matisse painting, won the Orange Playwriting Prize 2005 (best play by a new Scottish writer).This led to a successful production at Òran Mór, Glasgow with Joanne Cummings playing Hannah, the piano student who makes up for a chaotic personal life with an obsession for music and particularly her piano teacher, the unseen and much lusted-over Greg.This was followed by "The Gyntish Self" (2006), an energetic romp through the classic tale of Peer Gynt, co-written with Rob Drummond and Ewen Glass and produced by the young, Scottish Theatre Company Measureless Liars, "A jaunty skim through our hero's search for self that takes in street-smart localised patois and a deadpan acquisition of pop psychology therapy speak.