Our Scotland

This show devised by the company, and with original music and lyrics by the Musical Director Ashley Forbes, took the form of a Scottish TV magazine show complete with tartan clad hosts, agony uncles, weather girls, food items, Scottish country dancers and star guest interviews. The 25 strong cast of talented local youngsters showed their versatility moving easily between comedy sketches, dancing and singing – both comedic and poignant. In a show in which every item was a gem it is difficult to know what to highlight. Among my favourites were The Hungry Girls who extolled the virtues of Scottish cuisine from Haggis to deep fried Mars Bars and the performance by the 6 members of the boy band The Buttery Boys and their subsequent interview. Also “The Jerry McKyle” sketch in which Callum Bell as a doublet and hose (and cod-piece) clad Jerry MacKyle facilitated a confrontation between Jordan Abberley’s Mary Queen of Scots and Finlay Whelan-Duenas’s Elizabeth the First – an absolute hoot! The finale to Act One “Comin’ Hame” in which the story of 4 “couples” – a mother and the daughter she had given away at birth, a son who comes back to his sister after the death of his mother, a husband and wife who are separated for long periods due to work in the oil industry and a military husband and wife coping with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – was touchingly and sensitively told by the whole company through dialogue and song, bringing tears to the eyes of many of the audience. Special mention must be made of the programme hosts, the delightfully ever cheery Paul Patterson and Emma Thomson. Thank you everyone at MSD Productions for another excellent, entertaining - and sometimes thought provoking - evening.

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