Music: Additional note by Benjamin Twist

By Benjamin Twist, director of the Prime Productions production

It is worth adding to Dougal's notes on the music a couple of thoughts from the director's point of view.

Repetition

I regularly use repetition in the work that I direct. I find it valuable to provide the audience with a vocabulary of movements, sounds and pictures to work with, so that they recognise a repetition and the appearance of something they are familiar with brings with it associations. At one point in rehearsal we discussed should Long Rob sing other songs as well as 'Ladies of Spain'. I argued against it, holding the view that we quickly associate the song with him and his world, and we could use that top very quickly conjure up his world using just a single line. Hence, after he and Chris have made love her singing of the first line shows her happiness and her connection to him, made all the more poignant by the immediate receipt of the telegram telling her of Ewan's death.

The repetition of 'Ladies of Spain' when Rob sings it as the first song at the wedding also allows for a communal groan by the villagers, who recognise the song as the one they hear all day and every day. This moment I believe helps indicate the close knit community enjoying themselves together at an important communal ritual, while also creating a nice moment of comedy.

Dougie Maclean's songs

I at least partly agree with Dougal that these songs are alien to the rest of the music and indeed the rest of the play: they are the only bits that do not somehow derive from the book (this is true of the lyrics as well as the melodies). In a revival I would question hard whether I would use them. However, the words do serve an important purpose, in that they move Chris along sexually and emotionally, showing rather than telling us of that movement. Also, it has to be said, the melodies work, and theatre being a very practical artform, that is important.

The cast

When casting the show I was very aware of the need for some musical skills. Certainly Dougal was approached as a musical director as well as an actor and luckily for me was keen to take on both roles. The actress playing Chris needed to be able to sing, but no other actor was cast with their musical skills in mind. But again, theatre is a practical artform and actors who could sing or play were obviously attractive to me during the casting process.

Benjamin Twist

Music: