Plays by Alan Richardson

The Life, Times and Works of Sir Walter Scott.

    Based on the words of Scott himself, his family and friends, acquaintances and critics. Extracts include The Lady of the Lake, Waverley and Rob Roy.
    Devised to be staged as a rehearsed dramatised reading by a flexible team of performers, scripts are used, but some passages are best memorised. There are many opportunities for imaginative movement and action. Period costume would be a colourful option and the number of players involved can be easily adapted to suit. This script is available in three versions with running times of 50 minutes, 75 minutes and 1 hour 40 minutes.
    The Wizard of the North was specially written for the author's own drama group for its first performance at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

(Note: NAR = Narrator. MR1 = First mFR1 = First female reader. FR2 = Second female reader.)

NAR  In 1822 he wrote one of his most consequential works. It was not a poem or a novel, it was;

FR2     "Hints addressed to the inhabitants of Edinburgh and others in prospect of his Majesty's visit, by an old citizen."

NAR   By 1822, his friend, the Prince Regent, was now King George IV. Aged sixty, George was grossly overweight, in poor health, and very unpopular in London. George wanted to go to the Congress of Nations to be held in Vienna. The government didn't want him there. A royal visit to Scotland was the answer. Scott was asked to organise what became known as the "King's Jaunt", the first visit of a British monarch to Scotland for over 170 years.

FR2     "When his Majesty comes amongst us, he comes to his ancient kingdom of Scotland, and must be received according to ancient usages."

NAR   But what exactly were "ancient usages"? Nobody was quite sure. But Scott cheerfully mixed truth and invention, and few could tell the difference. For example, as any Scottish schoolchild will tell you, when any British monarch visits Scotland, their official escort is the Royal Company of Archers, the ancient bodyguard of Scottish Kings.
One of the male readers mimes drawing a longbow.
    Not quite. The Royal Company of Archers was, in fact, a gentleman's sporting and social club, founded less than two hundred years before.
The male reader drops his bow and skulks back to his seat.
    But the members readily accepted the honour and looked splendid in their new uniforms of Lincoln green. Scottish archers in Lincoln green? Anyway, Scott's book was full of words of advice. Even some helpful hints for the ladies. How to survive the ordeal of presentation.

FR2     "The lady drops her train, when she enters the circle of the King. (This sequence is mimed by the other readers) She curtsies. The King raises her and salutes her on the cheek. She then retires, always facing the Sovereign till she is beyond the circle. A considerable difficulty is presented to the inexperienced by the necessity of retiring, without assistance, backwards.  Most painful must be the situation of a young female who is unfortunate as to make a faux pas on such an occasion." 
    Their difficulties were not helped by another piece of advice, namely that "at least nine feathers" should be worn in every lady's head-dress. The feathers were a mistake. "At least", an even bigger one. English ladies in the royal party could barely conceal their mirth at the sight of forests of feathers waggling about. Scott really should have asked his wife.

NAR   For the men, he was quite specific. "No Gentleman is allowed to appear in anything but the ancient Highland costume." But what exactly was the "ancient highland costume"? Highland dress as we know it today simply did not, and never did, exist. At that time, the dress of many Highlanders was the plaid - effectively one large rectangular piece of cloth that was wrapped around the waist and secured at the shoulder. That simply would not do for the lowland gentlemen. But they didn't want to miss out on the Royal occasion for want of a bit of tartan. Weaving firms weren't going to miss out either. Taking their leaf out of Scott's book, if a tartan didn't exist, they quickly manufactured one. Scenes like this possibly happened in wealthy houses throughout Scotland.

MR1   What colour had your lordship in mind?

MR2 (miming searching in a wardrobe) How about these trews? I've always liked the green and red. Or there's this waistcoat. The blue goes well with the dark green.

MR1   A trifle dull, if I may be so bold. Your lordship will be wanting to stand out amongst the crowds.

MR2   Or how about this jacket? A grand purple, with deep red and fine yellow stripes. Yes. I rather fancy this.

MR1   A fine choice, if I may say, with perhaps a touch of green to compliment the purple. Now, how many yards of your ancient clan tartan did your lordship require?  

NAR   One company built forty new looms to cope with the sudden demand for tartan. Of course, genuine Highlanders also filled Edinburgh for the visit as the Chiefs answered Scott's call. He wrote to MacLeod of MacLeod.

MR1   "The King is coming after all. Arms and men are the best thing we have to show him. Do come, and bring half a dozen or half a score of clansmen, so as to look like an Island Chief as you are. Highlanders are what he will like best to see, and the masquerade of the Celtic Society will not do without some of the real stuff, to bear it out. Pray do come and do not forget to bring the Bodyguard for the credit of old Scotland and your own old house."

NAR   Since Scott had depicted the Highlands in a very romantic light, it was the least they could do in return. For those not familiar with the new "ancient" dress, helpful lists were available. 

MR2 stands forward while the two female readers mime being his "dressers"

NAR   A pair of hose. A pair of Highland garters. A pair of Highland brogues. A 'skian dubh'. A tartan kilt. A scarlet vest with true Highlander buttons. A tartan jacket with true Highlander buttons. A cocked bonnet with clan badge and cockade. A purse and belt. A cross shoulder belt. A powder horn with chain. A brace of Highland pistols. A broad sword. And a gun.
    Thus equipped, Scotland was ready to receive the King. Scotland gave him a traditional welcome - a very wet day. It was estimated that over three hundred thousand people flocked to Edinburgh. There were parades, processions, speeches, banquets, Highland balls... and a gala performance of Rob Roy. Despite the hectic schedule organised by Scott, George played the gracious sovereign, even to the point of wearing the tartan himself - complete with flesh coloured tights. And he must have found cheering crowds a welcome change from being booed in London.
    Not everybody embraced the new tartan image. Lord Cockburn commented that "hundreds who had never seen heather had the folly to array themselves in tartan." Even Scott's son-in-law, John Lockhart described the whole event as a "plaided panorama." 
    In the end, the visit was a great success. The King gained new popularity. The Scottish people found a new sense of national identity and a new national dress. The fashionable tartans of 1822 were refined by the Victorians to become the formal Highland dress we know today, and it was all largely due to the imagination of one man. Next time you're at a kilted wedding - think of Sir Walter Scott.

FR2     The following year, another new novel Quentin Durward, appeared. This time the setting was medieval France. The hero of the title joins King Louis the eleventh's bodyguard of Scottish archers. Now where have we heard that one before? It created a sensation in France. The author was the talk of Paris and the hottest fashion for French women was the Stuart tartan 'á la Walter Scott'

FR1     The next year, 1824, he returned to one of his favourite themes, the romantic but tragically doomed cause of the exiled Stuarts. His first novel, Waverley, was set against the famous 1745 Jacobite rebellion. Rob Roy was set against the earlier 1715 attempt. For Redgauntlet, he chose the year 1765, and created a fictitious third attempt, where a middle-aged and disillusioned Charles Edward Stuart returns to Britain. The title character, Edward Hugh Redgauntlet, attempts to raise support for the Prince.

MR2   "Charles Edward is in this country - Charles Edward is in this house! - Charles Edward waits but your present decision, to receive the homage of those who have ever called themselves his loyal liegemen. He that would now turn his coat, and change his note, must do so under the eye of his Sovereign. How now, my lords and gentlemen! Is it delight and rapture that keeps you thus silent? Where are the eager welcomes that should be paid to your rightful King, who a second time confides his person to the care of his subjects, undeterred by the hair-breath escapes and severe privations of his former expedition? I hope there is no gentleman here that is not ready to redeem, in his Prince's presence, the pledge of fidelity which he offered in his absence?"

FR1     But this time, few are willing to sacrifice their lives and the unsupported uprising peters out. The Prince's parting words are bitter.

MR1   "Care not for me. When I was in the society of Highland robbers and cattle-drovers, I was safer than I now hold myself among the representatives of the best blood in England. Farewell, gentlemen - I will shift for myself."

FR1     Redgauntlet sums it all up with the words "the cause is lost for ever!" Although it was unenthusiastically received at the time, Redgauntlet is now considered by many to be his best novel.

The cast of the first production by the Mercators. Edinburgh Festival Fringe, August 2002