I know little of the two
eighteenth century literary intellectuals Dr Samuel Johnson and James
Boswell but apparently their individual recollections of a joint tour of
Scotland have been re-launched at £19-99 and these two notaries have
been resurrected to publicise this publication and promote sales.
 Written by the UK’s
41’st best (totally underrated in my estimations) comedian Stewart
Lee, I knew I was in for an interesting and humorous evening. Miles Jupp
as James Boswell adds his own unique posh Scottish humour bringing
Boswell in to the 21st century declaring that language
develops with time, surely one dictionary does not mean the be-all and
end-all of words. Simon Munnery is a very dour Dr Samuel Johnson, he
declares that although he defined over 4,000 words the Scots either do
not know them or choose to ignore them. He also states that although we
use vowels as a nation we avoid constantans.
A third person is
integral to this play, Mr Neil Maclure pipes himself on to the stage, he
then introduces James Boswell and takes his place behind the drum kit on
stage. Neil gets to play his pipes several times most notably as a duel
with Dr Johnson, it appears that Dr Johnston does not hate quite
everything Scottish!
The writing’ as we
would expect from Stewart Lee, and the combination of performers is
extremely clever and works on several levels. The bright bubbly Boswell
contrasts beautifully with the Calvinistic Dr Johnston. Part of the
comedy is in the differences between their recollections of the same
incidents.
Iain Gillie is the man
behind the idea of this show and he like Boswell moved to London where
he is able to administer and present the arts as he envisions them.
Thanks to his wife and father-in-law we were treated to some superb
Scottish music before the performance. For more information on the tour
or the show go to either www.standoutcomedy.com
www.gilliesbuckets.co.uk
or for information on the great music see www.corbanrecordings.co.uk
Oh by the way if you can
sit on the very front row as it makes the voyage to Skye that little bit
more fascinating.
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