Restless Natives: The Musical

Before we jump on board with this episode, I’m delighted to tell you that the writer and legend Val McDermid will be joining me for A Kick Up The Arts live from Edinburgh’s Portobello Bookshop to celebrate her latest book, Queen Macbeth, on July the 9th. She’ll also chat about a favourite Scottish album, film and book - and we’d love you to come along. I’ll put ticket links everywhere…

There are also tickets on-sale now for A Kick Up The Arts live from the Edinburgh Fringe, I’ll be joined at the Stand for a series of lunchtime chats with fab guests including Barbara Dickson on August 20th, Grant Stott on August 21st, and Del Amitri’s Justin Currie on August 23rd - and it’d be fab to see you…

And, if you’re very quick, I’m at Paisley Book Festival this weekend, with fab songwriters and novelists James Yorkson and Malachy Tallack - they’ll chat about their latest books, and music, and they might even play us some songs - Paisley Town Hall, 4-5pm on Saturday April 26th, it’d be ace to see you there in person - the more the merrier - but we’ll also record it for a forthcoming episode of A Kick Up The Arts…

Meanwhile - onto this episode, and it’s about a new musical theatre production that’s based on one of my all-time favourite films…

Restless Natives hijacked my heart as a kid when it was released in the mid-1980s, and its politics, its love, its humour, its Big Country soundtrack, and it’s gorgeous protagonists - the Clown, and the Wolfman - and Margot - have been loved by so many of us ever since…

Now the tale of the Highland Highwaymen - who hold up tour buses and charm everyone in sight - is coming to the stage, and touring Scotland. It’s kicking off at Perth Theatre as we speak, before travelling to Stirling, Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh and Glasgow in May and June…

The new show is thanks to the film’s original creative team - director Michael Hoffman, producer Andy Paterson, and writer Ninian Dunnett, and it plays out to the tune of Big Country, alongside new songs from composer Tim Sutton, with lyrics from Ninian.

And it’s also thanks to a new Clown aka Ronnie, and Wolfman aka Will, and Margot… They were played in the film by Joe Mullaney, Vincent Friell and Teri Lally respectively, and this time around we’re seeing them brought to joyous life by Kyle Gardiner, Finlay McKillop and Kirsty MacLaren…

Sarah Galbraith reprises Ned Beatty’s role as Bender, and you can hear Sarah with Kirsty workshopping some of the new songs - as a sneak preview - throughout this episode. These are just rough recordings, but you’ll get the idea - and they sound wonderful already…

I grabbed a chat with Kirsty, Kyle and Finlay during rehearsals at Perth Theatre last week, but before that, I sat down with producer Andy Paterson, whose other film credits include Girl With A Pearl Earring, and Hilary and Jackie) - along with the brilliant actor, writer and panto legend Alan McHugh…

He loved the film the first time around, and now he’s starring as Chief Inspector Baird in the musical (Robert Urquhart played him in the film), tasked with ensnaring the Clown and the Wolfman. Alan had been in rehearsals too, and I was well impressed with his warm-up dance moves…