ARmour: a herstory of the scottish bard
musical by Shonagh Murray, for A Play A Pie and a Pint
Òran Mór, Glasgow - 23-28 Sept 2024
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh - 1-5 Oct 2024
Gaiety Theatre, Ayr - 10-12 Oct 2024
Paisley Town Hall - 15-16 Oct 2024
Johnstone Town Hall - 17-18 Oct 2024
Thirty years after the death of Robert Burns, his widow Jean Armour is living a quiet life looking after her granddaughter. That is until she finds herself face-to-face with the Bard’s infamous muse, ‘Clarinda’. What do the two women who inspired many of Burns’s poems and songs talk about?
Armour is a musical with original songs, and also features songs and poems by Robert Burns.
‘★★★★ …an extraordinarily rich and entertaining hour of lunchtime entertainment…. a female meditation on Burns and his work that is somehow both intensely critical and deeply affectionate… a play with songs that borrows from Burns, but also develops a strong lyrical voice of its own… greeted with a heartfelt ovation’ - Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman
‘★★★★ …a taut, well-scripted piece of theatre, the music deftly evoking the lyrical poetry at its heart… Tom Cooper’s direction serves to highlight Murray’s clever structure…’ - bouquetsbrickbatsreviews.com
‘★★★★ …an enlightening play… brilliantly directed by Cooper…. Burns acts as a port through which the women in his life can interact with one another and provide the audience with a historiography that was otherwise unknown…’ - corrblimey.uk
‘Shonagh Murray’s new musical for A Play A Pie and A Pint, directed by Tom Cooper, is a feminist revision of Burns’ life through the eyes of the women with whom he had relationships… Cooper directs deftly on Zephyr Liddell’s sparse set… Karen Fishwick supplies a funny and frank performance… Irene Allan and Hilary Maclean both excel…’ - The Stage
‘…a vital telling of untold stories… …Tom Cooper’s direction is energetic… Allen and Maclean are utterly convincing as women struggling against expectations and reputation. Their portrayals are nuanced and subtle; as a result, Burns emerges as that perennially difficult figure, indulged and affectionately tolerated while simultaneously resented and even half-hated, that is recognisable to so many Scots’ - alledinburghtheatre.com
Cast: Irene Allan, Karen Fishwick, Nina Gray, Hilary Maclean
Book, music and lyrics: Shonagh Murray
Director: Tom Cooper
Set and costume design: Zephyr Liddell
Musical director: Shonagh Murray
Lighting design: Ross Kirkland
Sound design: Ross Nurney
Assistant director: Lydia Green
Photos: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan