Theatre
The Beaches of St Valery
Oran Mor, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
four stars
IN June 1940, even as headlines were hailing the mass evacuation of British troops from Northern France as “the miracle of Dunkirk”, the men of 51st Highland Division were still on French soil – and, as determined by Churchill, under French command. His instructions to “fight to the last bullet” owed nothing to military tactics: it was a politically-motivated attempt to keep the French onside as allies. As the German army advanced, the French surrendered. With evacuation now a forlorn hope, the 51st had no choice but to follow suit.
Various choices probably occurred to writer/director Stuart Hepburn when he started joining up the dots of history for this play. Archives hold accounts of poor command decisions and of the brutalities – often fatal – that befell the surrendered. But Hepburn is wise to the leaden nature of too many facts and figures, so instead he gives us a touchingly human drama that draws us, viscerally and emotionally, into the experiences of one young private in the Cameron Highlanders, Callum Chisholm (James Rottger).
In 1938, he and his mates join the Territorials for a lark. Come 1940, the ones who are still alive are cooped up on the beaches of St Valery, about to become POW’s. Fate, however, smiles on Callum and – in a plot twist based on a true story – he is helped to freedom by an ex-pat Fife miner and his equally brave daughter. Everything about this three-hander – with Ron Donachie as the miner, Ashley Smith his daughter and both of them deftly taking on other parts as required – is an affirmation of valour, love and courage under danger. It depicts the best of who we are, or hope we are, in the worst of times. Projections and songs provide glimpses of context in what is an outstanding production that’s acted out with integrity, humour and a lovely awareness of what these characters represent even now.
Sponsored by Heineken
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here