Jocky Wilson Says: Play about late Fife darts icon.

Writers hope play will give people an insight into famous son of Fife

One of Scotland’s most unlikely sporting heroes is to be the subject of a new play.

The late Jocky Wilson, the Fife darts favourite who was twice crowned world champion and who fought a long battle against alcohol and ended up a virtual recluse, is to be saluted in Jocky Wilson Says.

Premiering at Oran Mor in Glasgow in March, the play will be staged five years after Wilson’s death.

The show, set before Wilson became a household name through TV coverage of darts, has been created by a brother and sister team from Fife, Jane Livingstone and singer-songwriter Jonathan Cairney.

It will recall an infamous incident when the then 29-year-old ex-miner was travelling around the United States playing exhibition matches.

He stayed up so late in Los Angeles that he was forced to hitch 400 miles through the desert to Las Vegas after missing his bus.

Jane Livingstone said: “There was literally a time when everybody in Scotland would have known Jocky Wilson’s name, but they possibly wouldn’t have been able to tell you much about where he was from, what his background was like and what motivated him.”

He continued: “Some people get very excited about him and think of him as a great Scottish hero.

“Other people feel his story is very sad and see him as an embarrassing figure.

“We think of him as a tremendous character, but because there are these differing views about him it made us think that his was a story worth looking at.”

She added: “We don’t see his as a tragic story. We’ve done quite a number of interviews with people who played darts with Jocky in Fife.

“We had an idea of how we wanted to present a story and what we wanted to say about him.

“We wanted to ‘run that by’ some people who actually knew him at the time so we’re not that far off.

“It’s neither going to be demonising or over-romanticising him.”

Oran Mor co-artistic director Morag Fullerton said: “I was just really intrigued by the setting of the play in the desert and the fact it is based on a reallife incident.

“Hopefully, we’re going to evoke his spirit of his character, tell some of the stories about him, and look at what it was that made him such a winner – and loser.”

Jocky Wilson Says will premiere at Oran Mor arts centre, Byres Road, Glasgow, on March 20.

We think of him as a tremendous character... JANE LIVINGSTONE

Two-time world darts champion Jocky Wilson was an unlikely sporting hero.