Review: Flora - The Musical (Pavilion Theatre Glasgow)

The Lyrical Life of a Jacobite Heroine

Look, look, I want to talk about it too! How all the way through Flora I kept flinching (I’m not used to hearing my name spoken about in relation to anyone else), I laughed at shared experiences (“Fiona– I mean Flora!”), and secretly hoping the musical doesn’t become too successful (oh, your name is Flora? Like the musical?). But no, this is not about me, this is about Flora MacDonald, and how we centre women’s stories in history. Flora MacDonald is best known for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie escape the government troops in the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and for most people, that’s where her story begins and ends. In Belle Jones’ musical, however, we see the rich life she went on to lead, the way it was shaped by men in power, and the moment she took back control over her own life.

Initially, we are hit hard by some historical exposition. Jones, like most museums around the country, makes the mistake of assuming the audience has a deep-rooted and instinctive knowledge of Scottish history. Speaking for myself, I was both overwhelmed by the amount of information and rather lost about what it all meant. What became clear, though, is that travel between the islands was strictly controlled, but thanks to an ancestral loophole, Flora could travel between two of them at will. Once Bonnie Prince Charlie enters the picture, and the plan to smuggle him across the waves dressed as a woman takes shape, the musical finds its feet. Flora becomes a local legend, is jailed in London, and settles down with a farmer back in Scotland. As the show drifted into the second act, I wondered if there really was more to Flora’s life than that one shining moment, if perhaps there was no story here after all. But the second half takes us across the Atlantic, into the heart of the revolution, and into Flora’s internal battles with where her loyalties lie. It is a rich, exciting, and beautifully balanced and paced portrayal.

Photo Credit: Ewan Weatherspoon

On stage, we have two Floras – Flora Jr, played by Karen Fishwick, and Flora Sr, played by Annie Grace, who lingers about the stage for most of the performance, until taking centre stage in the last scene. Fishwick is a fantastic lead; she has a beautiful voice, and she makes you completely believe in her youth, her bravery, and the search for her voice. Lana Pheutan plays her sister Annabel (and a smaller role as Lasy Sleat), and is a complete scene stealer whenever she is on stage. There is something about her comic timing and her facial expressions that makes it hard to look away from her. Lawrence Boothman has only two or three short scenes as Bonnie Prince Charlie, but in that time, he is responsible for nearly half the laughs of the whole show, with his ridiculously camp impersonation of the beloved Stuart. The role of Flora Sr seems to weigh heavily on Grace. As she looms over proceedings, there is a tired expression on her face that is a little too authentic for comfort, and the surtitles at the side of the stage betray that many of the lines are off.

In fairness, it isn’t an easy script to handle. Not only is it wordy and eloquent, but it is spoken (as far as I can tell) entirely in rhyming couplets. Heavy-handed though this sounds, it actual feels completely natural after a while, and the homely broad Scots endears the audience more than anything else. When not speaking in Scots, the characters talk in straight Gaelic, which feels like an act of rebellion even today. For fluent speakers, it is an absolute feast for the ears, and for the rest of us, we can pick up on the gist without missing important details. The music by AJ Robertson and John Kielty transports us through the story; when Flora is in Scotland, the folk numbers could have been sung in any country pub in the nation, and in America, they take on an unexpected but brilliant country edge. Despite my fear of being overshadowed by Flora’s imagined success, on the night I attended the audience was small. To hear the applause at the end, however, it may as well have been sold out, as it deserves to be. Four stars.

Whispers from the Crowd: The two Floras really worked. I recognised half the actors! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Flora has completed its run at Pavilion Theatre