The Pavilion, Glasgow
Four stars
Once upon a time, history books were full of heroes, who helped sex up the humdrum realpolitik of what actually happened enough to bring it off the page and into the hearts and minds of those who might be led to take sides. So it goes with the much lauded story of William Wallace, Scottish knight, scourge of English marauders and, in Mel Gibson’s blue paint smeared eyes, Hollywood’s idea of a nation’s saviour.
Writer Rob Drummond and composer/lyricist Dave Hook take a different approach in this scaled up hip hop take on Wallace, developed out of its bite size original that first appeared at A Play, a Pie and a Pint’s lunchtime theatre initiative in 2025. Back then, it was done as a three-way pub debate between a Scotsman, a Wummin and a Sassenach. This time out there are six people in Orla O’Loughlin’s production for the Raw Material company, which takes place on Neil Haynes’ set of steps that looks somewhere between the epic courtroom scene in Powell and Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death and a glitzy nightclub.
Into this steps a non-stop historical cabaret led first by Ross Mann as Scotsman, a classic Wallace fan boy who buys into the boys own story hook, line and face paint. This is challenged by Manasa Tagica’s Sassenach, who dons fur coat and shades as a blinged up King Edward. As for the Wummin, Patricia Panther’s one time solo turn now sees her backed up by Madeline Grieve and Kimberley Mandindo to makes full on girl group chorus.
With a life size stag dangling upside down over the action, Hook himself holds court from the top step at the back of the stage, dropping beats from his DJ console with occasional interventions as Wallace to offer his own take on history.
The end result of what is now a just shy of two hour show is a myth pricking mash up that suggests that, while Wallace did his bit, the likes of his sidekick Andrew Moray, Robert the Bruce and an assortment of leading ladies all shared equally starring roles.
Drummond, Hook and O’Loughlin’s fleshed out version is delivered with attitude aplenty across Kloe Dean’s series of choreographed routines. More a descendent of SIX than Hamilton in terms of style, the show’s dynamic rewiring of history sees heroes, villains and all those who got lost inbetween given full ambiguous voice.
The Herald, September 28th 2026
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