Casablanca set to play it again for fun

A PERTH Theatre production of Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut promises to pay homage to a film they claim is one of the greatest of all time.

The comedy, which is written and directed by Scot Morag Fullarton, has been performed across Europe to glittering reviews but now it will return to the stage in Scotland with a 16-day stint at the theatre later this month.

With some of the most iconic scenes and best lines ever written, the creators of the play believe Casablanca deserves to be shown again.

The Gin Joint Cut is an adaptation which is set in a tiny bar and features three multi-tasking actors playing all the parts in tribute to the film.

Clare Waugh will take on the roles of Major Heinrich Strasser, Ilsa Lund, and Pepe the gendarme, Kevin Lennon will play Captain Louis Renault, Resistance leader Victor Laszlo, lowly crook Ugarte, and Simon Donaldson will swap between

Rick Blaine, a Nazi, and a host of colourful characters.

In a five-star review, theatre newspaper The Stage praised writer and director Fullarton for her play: “She has written a hilarious yet hugely reverential homage to Casablanca,” it said.

Ms Fullarton added: “It’s always a joy to perform Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut, but it’s a particular pleasure to be presenting the show in Perth’s beautiful theatre.

“The show has been performed everywhere from Peebles to Paris – so audiences can come along and be transported to Morocco 1941 in this fabulously funny retelling of the Second World War thriller. Here’s looking at you Perth!”

Performances will run from March 14 to March 30 with, in true Casablanca fashion, a black-tie, red-carpet event on Saturday March 16.

Tickets are available from the Perth Theatre and Concert Hall website.

NOSTALGIA: Clare Waugh as Ilsa Lund and Simon Donaldson as Rick Blaine, and below, outside Perth Theatre, and with Kevin Lennon as Captain Louis Renault.