Published: Thursday, 4th February, 2010 6:00am

Loth to smile about after musical

by Kirsty Gibbins

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THE Courier's KIRSTY GIBBINS was transported to the sixth century at the premiere of new Scottish musical The Legend of King Loth, starring Yester Primary School pupils, at Musselburgh's Brunton Theatre

SEVERAL of the key performers in The Legend of King Loth

THE Legend of King Loth is the kind of epic tale that Hollywood directors can - and often do - spend millions of pounds on bringing to life.

Therefore, premiering this brand new Scottish musical with an inexperienced child cast and small budget shouldn't have worked. . . and yet, thanks to excellent performances by the massive ensemble of 85 pre-teens from Gifford's Yester Primary School, and a few clever visual techniques, King Loth was a memorable and hugely enjoyable production.

King Loth (Scott Thomson) laments his defeated army as wife Lynette (Isla McClung) looks on.

The musical was the invention of a long-running artistic collaboration between former North Berwick High School pupils Robin Hiley and James Ross - the pair first met as head choristers at St Mary's Parish Church in Haddington - with the former composing the music and the latter contributing a script.

Yester Primary's young thespians, looking for a story to showcase in their bi-annual school production, provided the perfect platform for the duo to launch their action-packed drama, commissioned as part of Homecoming Scotland.

And with headteacher Dorothy Hilsley taking the reins as director, and eager pupils lining up to audition for the juiciest parts in the production, it was in November last year that weekly rehearsals began.

The merciless Mordred (Harry Dawson) prepares to interrogate Lyona (Hannah Metcalfe) as his fiercesome army stands to attention

A few weeks later, a slot was found for the show's two-night run at the Brunton Theatre in Musselburgh and, late last month, parents, siblings and grandparents filled the small auditorium.

"It was just a fantastic story and because it was East Lothian-based it just meant such a lot to the children and suited us very well," Mrs Hilsley told the Courier.

"It was quite an opportunity for us to have because although we have staged a few productions in the past, this was a much larger leap and there was a lot more work involved."

The dark yet uplifting tale, loosely based on the legend of the Pictish king who gave his name to the Lothians, bears more than a little resemblance to a Shakespeare tragedy; with a tormented soul, inappropriate romance and a coven of insane witches all making an appearance.

A story of troubled beginnings, the production opened on a wretched King Loth (well played by Scott Thomson) who is defeated in battle by his arch-nemesis, the heartless Lord Mordred.

Claiming Loth's wife Lynette as the spoils of war, Mordred leaves the desolate king to rebuild his kingdom and promises to return in 15 years to exchange his stolen spouse for the couple's daughter, Thenew, when she comes of age.

At the next curtain rise, we have returned to Loth and his daughter is celebrating her 16th birthday.

Though life is far from simple for this sixth-century teenager - the princess is in love with a lowly shepherd, Erec, who must prove his worth when Mordred comes calling, and a desperate Loth sends his daughter onto the Forth on a coracle, to be washed up on an island inhabited by some friendly, if slightly dotty, monks.

Thanks to generous grants from donors such as Garvald and Morham Community Council and East Lothian Educational Trust, pupils were able to convincingly perform this larger-than-life tale - featuring no less than two battle scenes, a medieval feast and an insanity-inducing storm - with aplomb.

Having invested in a variety of colourful and imaginative costumes, some gifted by designer Fran Morrice and others donated by Cockenzie and Port Seton Drama Group, the production boasted a kaleidoscope of colour.

And the director's decision to use a small screen, depicting well-known East Lothian locations such as Traprain Law and the Bass Rock, as a backdrop to scenes was further proof that you don't need expensively assembled props to provoke the audience's imagination.

Mrs Hilsley, headteacher at Yester for the past nine years, had clearly done a great job in preparing her young cast to perform without adult supervision on-stage and there were few awkward pauses or script mis-steps by the surprisingly confident kids, who seemed completedly unfazed by their professional stage surroundings.

"They were all absolutely brilliant. Given that they did not actually get to stand on the Brunton stage until the Tuesday (day before opening night), for them to be so confident and self-assured in that professional setting was really impressive," said the satisfied director. "Many of them are quite proud of themselves, and rightly so."

Leon Doig as the bumbling Dagonet - bearing more than a few similarities to the recurring Shakespearean 'fool' - provided some very well-timed, excellently delivered comic relief and the villainous Mordred, Harry Dawson, standing a good few inches above most of the young cast and with a booming stage presence, was entirely believable as the merciless king of a bloodthirsty army.

Special praise must also go to the coven of witches, whose appearance marked the beginning of one of the best sequences in the entire production, as the heroes become trapped in a tempest on the moors, cleverly composed using booming sound effects and frantic flashes of lighting.

Delivering cackles worthy of any old crone, the wild-eyed young harpies struck just the right balance between creepy and hilarious.

While they don't yet have the vocal capacity or experience required to really belt out a tune on a stage like the Brunton - Hannah Metcalfe as Lyona and Joanna Wagener as Princess Thenew were the notable exceptions, both delivering strong singing performances - there were no wrong notes among the cast here.

The ensemble pieces worked best and the rousing 'Marching Song' and the witches' menacing melody were highlights. And the imaginative choreography that accompanied the music more than compensated for the lack of strong singing voices within the cast.

The script was well-supported by a lilting medieval classical score, performed by an eight-piece band.

There was never any question of King Loth failing to sell tickets, with a packed audience of family and friends more than happy to come along and watch the show.

But the standing ovation given to the young cast confirmed that Yester's talented youngsters have truly set a new standard of success that can be achieved in a school production and, hopefully, they will rise to that challenge again in future.

"Having successfully put on a show on a professional stage it's going to be quite hard for us to return to performing in the school hall again so, who knows, we might be heading back to the Brunton in two years' time!" said Mrs Hilsley.