Review: THE STAMPING GROUND, King's Theatre, Glasgow

The Stamping Ground is a new musical presented by Raw Material and Eden Court Highlands and featuring the songs of Runrig.

Euan and Annie were teenage sweethearts and after Annie fell pregnant at sixteen, they left their home in the Highlands for the bright lights of London. Euan pursued his dream as a writer and Annie put her own ambitions on hold indefinitely to support him. Their daughter Fiona is now sixteen and after a brutal physical attack by people she thought were her friends, the family have moved back to where they grew up, seeking a fresh start.

Callum and Rory MacDonald's songs fit the piece perfectly. This is by no means a jukebox musical where hits are shoehorned into the script just for the sake of it (the 'biggest' song of the night is saved for the curtain call). 

The cast are great with standout performances from Jenny Hulse (Annie) and Caitlin Forbes as Fiona- the sullen teenager who hates her new home but quickly flourishes thanks to a newfound friend.

The main theme of The Stamping Ground is community as the local pub is under threat. Numbers of locals are dwindling as people leave the area and there's an increase in tourism in summer months and developers looking to make money from the land. There are several storylines running alongside each other which are expertly woven together.

The Stamping Ground is an exciting and rousing new musical with a lot of heart behind it. 

Photo credit: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

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