The Flouers O'Edinburgh
by Robert McLellan
by Robert McLellan
The Flouers o'Edinburgh is a comedic satire set in 18th century Edinburgh that explores the cultural clash between Scots and English through the story of a matchmaking aunt and her headstrong niece who rejects the conditions of a suitor's English education.
About The Play
About The Play
Commissioned by the Finborough Theatre as part of its Scotland Decides/Tha Alba a’taghadh2014 season to coincide with the Scottish Independence Referendum on Thursday 18 September 2014, the English premiere of Robert McLellan’s The Flouers o’Edinburgh.
A sparkling period satire on the aftermath of the 1707 Acts of Union, the Scottish Enlightenment and the battle between the Scots and English tongues.
Edinburgh in the mid 18th century. The eccentric Girzie Carmichael is consigned to an Edinburgh tenement after her country estate has been confiscated for the family’s support of Bonnie Prince Charlie. As she fights to stop her estate being sold to a Londoner, she attempts to matchmake her feisty young niece, Kate, with humourless prig Charles Gilchrist whose English education has left him with a hilariously warped accent. Only one thing stands in the way of their union – Charles makes it a condition of their marriage that Kate agrees to learn “proper English”, but Kate flatly refuses to turn her back on her native Scots…
As poets, politicians and soldiers alike attend elocution classes to learn English, the lovers’ dispute soon leads to utter chaos…
First produced in 1948 starring the great Scottish actor Duncan Macrae, The Flouers o’Edinburgh has been widely produced and often revived throughout Scotland – most recently in 2007 at Pitlochry. This classic Scottish romp now receives its long overdue English premiere.