From its own blurb, Scots The Musical is “the musical history lesson no-one asked for but everyone needs”, exploring Scotland’s “people and places, triumphs and failures. All told by a figure who has seen it all… someone who witnessed the Picts and the Celts unite; who survived the battles of Stirling and Bannockburn; who heard the declaration of Arbroath; who witnessed Scottish Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the charge for women’s rights, the battle for gay rights, the call for Independence-basically someone who’s seen some amount of s**t: Scotland’s greatest invention … The Toilet!”
Yes, you read that correctly, the history of a nation told by a toilet. As premises go, you can’t deny it’s a original one and while there’s a raft of historical musical theatre fodder enjoying popularity at the moment, us Scots, of course have to dig our own unique furrow.
Most Scots, well you would hope most Scots, know about Wallace and Bruce, inventing the TV and telephone and even some of the more recent triumphs, but do they know about the extraordinary things that its ordinary citizens have done. From rent reform, installing the first indoor tenement toilets to ending period poverty, there’s a lot to be proud of. The writing is razor sharp, jam-packed with historical facts and unashamedly Scottish while remaining thoroughly self-aware: to its credit, Scots The Musical covers some topics that are not exactly to be lauded: the lengthy struggle for Gay Rights for example.
This is a triple threat of a production: pitch-perfect writing, glorious original music and a first-rate cast who look as if they are having a blast. Tyler Collins is utterly engaging as our narrator The Toilet as are the entirety of the ensemble (there isn’t a weak link among them – they sound utterly sublime) but it is Katie Barnett’s roof-raising, goosebump-inducing, tear-jerking turn as Mary Somerville, the first person in the world to be called ‘a scientist’ and her rallying call of a song I Don’t Need Your Approval that lingers long in the memory. The sentiment coupled with Barnett’s stunning voice can’t be beaten.
There are as many mascara-running laughs and unhinged moments as there are poignant and thought-provoking ones. For all its irreverence there’s real reflection on the nation’s triumphs and disasters and what actually makes a country. The auditorium is on its feet at the end and deservedly so, to celebrate this five star, original, entertaining, unforgettable show.
Continues in Glasgow and then on tour to Inverness and Aberdeen.