Young Pretender

Bonny Prince Charlie still sustains the status of Scotland’s most romantic hero, and his bid to regain the British monarchy for Scotland and the Stuarts remains the stuff of legend. This unusual play, written in modern ‘speak’ by playwright EV Crowe, shows him returning to Scotland in secret to convince the Scottish clansmen to follow him to the Battle of Culloden and the second Jacobite Uprising.

It is a gritty, dialogue-heavy script, delving into the power of ambition, how it can inspire loyalty and trust – and the responsibility that leadership entails. At first it depicts Charlie as the energetic, almost narcissistic campaigner, urging the Scots to join him. Later we see him bearing the guilt of failure and the loss of life it involves. The message certainly wasn’t new then – and it reverberates just as strongly today.

Mark Nagle directs the play on a minimalist set that allows Ryan Bown to stride and strut as Charlie in the opening scenes as he preaches his ambitious dreams to Donald, played by Shaun McEachern.  Bown, with his kilt swirling, rebutting with promises of victory Donald’s reasonable arguments about the weariness and poverty that previous defeats have wrought.

Both Bown and McEachern are imposing figures and their voices echo in the open set – one full of goading enthusiasm and determination, the other resigned and, eventually, fatalistically accepting.

Madelaine Osborn is fiery as Flora, who, meeting Charlie in defeat, tries desperately to restore his optimism and drive despite the fact that the battle has left her fatherless. Osborn makes Flora passionate and feisty as well as finding the humour in the constant use of the word ‘terrific’ in her dialogue.

The play paints a realistic picture of the Bonny Prince and the battles between the Scots and the Sassernachs – as well as the useless death and destruction of war then – and now.

Carol Wimmer

Photographer: Bob Seary