1973 play by John McGrath charting the history of economic exploitation in the Scottish Highlands from the Clearances in the 19th-century to the then-present-day 1970s. Starting in Aberdeen, the 7:84 theatre company toured it across community centres and other small venues throughout the Highlands and Islands. A television adaptation, which combined footage from a 1974 performance in Dornie with filmed inserts of exterior scenes, aired as part of the BBC’s Play for Today strand.
Provides examples of:
- Actor-Muso Show: The original touring cast of the play also doubled as The Force Ten Gaels, a Scottish country dance band who would provide musical accompaniment for the show and the after-show ceilidh.
- Audience Participation Song: The company warms up the crowd by getting them to join in with a rendition of These are My Mountains, providing the lyrics on giant bedsheets. The song itself gets a couple of reprises by characters in the play.
- Bilingual Bonus: Gaelic dialogue and songs feature throughout the play.
- Body Horror: The shots showing the aftermath of the tenants’ battle with the authorities includes some pretty gory shots of their wounds.
- Crosscast Role: Queen Victoria is played by one of the male actors in the company in the TV adaptation.
- The Dog Bites Back: In 1854, the Duke of Sutherland tries to recruit his tenants to fight in the Crimean war. After delivering what he believes is a Rousing Speech, he is met with stonefaced silence. When he asks why none of them have volunteered and don’t come forward even when he offers them a cash incentive, one elderly crofter stands up and responds:”I am sorry for the response that Your Grace’s proposals are meeting here, but there is a cause for it. It is the opinion of this country that if the Tsar of Russia should occupy Dunrobin Castle, that we couldn’t expect worse at his hands than we have experienced at the hands of your family in the past 50 years. We have no country to fight for. You robbed us of our country and gave it to the sheep. Therefore, since you prefer sheep to men, let the sheep now defend you.”
- Leitmotif: The folk song “Bonnie Dundee” gets used as a theme for the characters who act primarily in the interests of commerce.
- '70s Hair: In the filmed production, most of the male performers in the company have long hair and beards that were typical for the time.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: “Mo Dhachaigh”, a song all about how nice it is to come home after a hard day’s work, is combined with footage of crofters having their houses burned to the ground.
- Technology Marches On: In-Universe, the Inciting Incident is the advancement of animal husbandry that results in the creation of the Cheviot, a breed of sheep that can withstand the tough conditions in the Highlands. This makes the sheep a more profitable means of exploiting the land than crofting tenants, thus prompting the landowners to eject crofters with extreme prejudice and install herds of Cheviot in their place.
- Who's on First?: One scene involves a routine based on this schtick, complete with a Rimshot.
