Willie Wastle

Adapted from a story in Wilson’s Tales of the Borders and of Scotland with songs mainly by Robert Burns

‘My researches at the time led me to discover, first, John Buchan’s early, Borderset, short stories, and also Wilson’s Tales of the Borders. Amongst the latter, Willie Wastle’s Account of His Wife sprang from its dusty pages with a vivacity that belied its age. It was a riposte to Robert Burns’ popular song Willie Wastle dwalt on Tweed, composed at the Crook Inn in Tweedsmuir. In the song, the unfortunate wife of Willie is described by the national bard in terms that must be the most unflattering ever penned on a woman. Wilson’s story was Willie’s defence of her.’
From the Author’s Introduction

ISBN: 9781906220402
New Price: £2.99

Available from May 2011

 

 

 

The Journey of Jeannie Deans by Judy Steel

Play based on a tale from  Sir Walter Scott's  Heart of Midlothian

'It’s a truth universally acknowledged, alas, that no-one reads the novels of Sir Walter Scott any more; which is why we owe a special debt of gratitude to shoestring companies like Judy Steel’s Rowan Tree group. Based in the Borders  . . .  it has a sharp eye for the superb theatrical potential of some of the finest romantic stories ever told. The tale of Jeannie Deans is perhaps the finest of them all, courageous and – for its time – groundbreaking, in its account of how a brave girl from the outskirts of Edinburgh walks all the way to London to beg royal mercy for the life of her sister, Effie, condemned to death for concealing a pregnancy and for presumed child murder.Scott’s doughty defence of strong women betrayed and bullied by patriarchal law, the superb character of Jeannie herself, and the brilliant strand of political and constitutional commentary that accompanies the tale – set in an 18th century Edinburgh still smarting from the loss of its won king and parliament – makes the story as gripping, and as full of contemporary resonances, as it is gripping. There’s a real, successful ingenuity in Steel’s efforts to tell such a wide-ranging tale with only three actors, and one wild and brilliant female fiddle-player . . . This is a show that  gives its audiences a memorably good time . . . '
Joyce MacMillan, The Scotsman

ISBN: 978-1-906220-39-6
New Price: £2.99