Spectrum Theatre, Inverness, Wednesday 9 June 2004 and touring

Beth Marshall

MULL THEATRE’S revival of this very successful stage version of Compton Mackenzie’s famous novel (and Sandy Mackendrick’s even more famous film version) has lost none of its appeal in the seven years since it was last staged.

The clever adaptation sets the action of the play in a radio studio in the late 1940s, where three actors and two technicians are recreating Whisky Galore for the listening audience on the BBC Home Service, thereby solving myriad narrative problems at a stroke.

The familiar story of the sinking of the good ship Cabinet Minister off the fictional islands of Great and Little Todday is inevitably trimmed and reshaped considerably, but the central core of the narrative remains intact, along with the various dramatic relationships, love affairs and familial conflicts that weave through the book in counterpoint to the story of the liberation of the precious cargo of whisky.

The studio setting adds its own narrative level to proceedings. We not only get to see the actors at work – all taking multiple roles – and the on-stage creation of the various sound effects (Beth Marshall’s evocation of sex-crazed dog is a comic tour de force) in the course of the ‘broadcast’, but also intuit some subtle relationships at work amongst the characters.

The programme carries a picture of the previous cast, but the new team of actors stamp their own character on the piece from the outset. As well as the aforementioned Beth Marshall as Iona Carr, Alan Steele (as Hubert Clachlan-Bell) and Steve Clyde (Nathan Dane) are her fellow thespians, while Kevin Lennon (Ivor Ash) is the studio manager, and Kay McIntyre (Mae Duguid) his assistant (and just what is going on in that booth anyway?).

The ‘studio’ audience gets to contribute their mite to proceedings, shouting along to cue cards held up by the technicians, including a chance to brush up on Gaelic toasts. A very entertaining comedy, and if anything, even sharper this time round.

Whisky Galore can be seen at the following venues:
Spectrum Theatre, Inverness, Friday 11 and Saturday 12 June 2004
Byre Theatre, St Andrews, Tuesday 15 – Saturday 19 June
An Tobar, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Tuesday 22 – Friday 25 June
Screen Machine, Tobermory,  Isle of Mull, on:
Monday 5 July – Tuesday 6 July
Tuesday 3 August
Thursday 5 August
Monday 9 August – Wednesday 11 August
Thursday 19 August – Friday 20 Aug
Monday 23 August – Wednesday 25 August
Thursday 2 September – Wed 8 September (not Sunday)
© Kenny Mathieson, 2004