Mayhem on a grand scale destined to warm the heart

After another successful summer season, Pitlochry Theatre turns to an old Scottish favourite for its autumn production.

Peter Arnott’s adaptation of Compton Mackenzie’s The Monarch Of The Glen brings another world premiere to the Highland Perthshire stage.

Brash American millionaire Chester Royde has arrived in Glen Bogle to research his new wife Carrie’s Scottish ancestry.

Benny Young plays Ben Nevis, the Laird of Glen Bogle, who is a bit short of the readies and is more than willing to swallow his stubborn pride in an attempt to match up his hapless son, Hector, with Carrie’s single sister (and joint heiress) Myrtle.

Spin in a few activist ramblers and – one for the YouTube followers – a bare-chested yoga-loving kiltie, who also happens to be a Scottish nationalist, and you have all the ingredients for mayhem on a grand scale.

Leave your thinking caps at home and just sit, relax and let the flow of farce flit over the footlights. Yes, there’s trouserdropping (well, shorts, actually), but it is also a cleverly-constructed adaptation and, with the deft touches of director Richard Baron at the helm, it is destined to warm the heart.

Mark Elstob makes a superb return to the Pitlochry stage as the delightfully tongue-incheek narrator, as well as a plethora of other parts, including the comic Fuhrer-style leader of the hikers.

The 10-strong cast works its socks off in this carefully choreographed comic cantrip, with the diminutive Stephanie McGregor showing great timing as she moves seamlessly from one character to another.

The Monarch of the Glen continues until November 12.