Theatre Alba

Four Star reviews in Evening News and Three Weeks

 

EVENING NEWS

Muckle helping of Scots hilarity

TOM MAXWELL

The Lass wi the Muckie Moo * * * *

Theatre Alba

Duddingston Kirk Garden

 

CHARLES NOWOSIELSKI, the artistic director of Fringe First-winning Theatre Alba, describes Alexander Reid's The Lass wi the Muckle Moo as the greatest Scottish play ever written. And it's easy to see why - here is a production chock full of Scots humour at its finest.

 

The play, the title of which translates as "the girl with the big mouth", is performed in the garden of Duddingston Kirk Manse, where this talented group of Scottish professionals transport their audience back to a 13th century Borders farm. The opening of the play, featuring the legendary Thomas the Rhymer (Keith Hutcheon) and The Queen of Elfland (Anne Lannan), is rather slow but, once the laughs start, they don't stop.

 

The actors speak in broad Scots but even those who can't follow every word will enjoy the show, especially the performance of Alex McSherry. The brilliant, larger-than-life actor plays Sir Gideon Murray, a laird whose cattle are targeted by his enemies - the Scott family. He and friend Wattie Duncan (Robin Thompson) manage to capture one of the young reivers, Willie (David Elliot-George), and resolve to hang him the following day.

 

Unfortunately for Sir Gideon, his daughter Meg (Romana Abercromby) takes an immediate shine to the handsome raider. The consequences are hilarious, with Willie unable to decide whether he would sooner be hanged than be forced to marry "the Girl wi the Muckle Moo" - a cruel rhyme of Thomas's which has kept Meg single until the grand old age of 22.

 

Broad-accented, boisterous and extremely funny, McSherry steals the show as Sir Gideon becomes more and more flustered at the improbable situation in which he finds himself - the prospect of being known as the father of a girl who makes men welcome the gallows with open arms.

 

Abercromby took over as Meg at the 11th hour after Anna Guthrie fell ill and plays the role with aplomb. Hutcheon, who, like McSherry, is another Alba veteran, is in great form as Thomas the Rhymer, delivering lines like "an elephant is a creature that pishes water through its front tail" as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

 

Elliot-George, making his Alba debut, impresses not only as Willie, but in comic turns as Drunken Rabb and, appearing briefly in drag, as Lizzie. Lisa Nicoll completes the line-up as Sir Gideon's long-suffering wife Grizel. Original music is arranged by Richard Cherns, with the singing, bodhran and whistle playing of Andy May accentuating the quintessentially Scottish nature of the play.

 

The Lass wi the Muckle Moo is not a production you'll have the chance to see often, so catch it while you can. Theatre Alba is doing a braw job of promoting Scottish plays, amusing, entertaining and educating in equal measure. Long may it continue.

 

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THREE WEEKS

The Lass Wi The Muckle Mou (tw rating: 4/5)

Theatre Alba

 

This hilarious Scots play is great fun, and staged in a breathtakingly beautiful venue. Arthur's Seat lies behind the audience, while the performance is backed by a gently wooded slope leading down to the shore of Duddingston Loch.

 

Performed outdoors in this spectacular locale, at sunset, the performance is lent an appropriately magical air, as the legendary Thomas the Rhymer returns from Elf Land to write his last great ballad. Every member of the cast is fantastic, with Anna Guthrie's endearing Meg, and Alex McSherry's comic turn as Sir Gideon the standouts.

 

Wrap up warm, bring an umbrella, and don't let the midges put you off; this hugely entertaining play will definitely reward the effort required to get to the venue. Duddingston Kirk Manse Garden... . tw rating: 4/5 published: Aug-2007 [Andrew Leask]