[VYholden]

An interesting and thoughtful review, Stewart, so thanks for that.

I've been sceptical about the value of airing sectarian prejudice in a theatrical setting - even with the best of intentions - since going to see Hector McMillan's The Sash in a Glasgow theatre back in the 70s when I lived and worked there. My heart sank as I approached the theatre - I think it was the Citizens' - and saw one coach after another parked at the side of the road, and festooned with the banners of various Orange Lodges.

Well, the theatre was full of Orange bigots, many of them drink taken, as they say in Glasgow, and they cheered to the rafters every bigoted comment and obscenity uttered at ear-splitting volume by Andrew Keir, in the lead role. Now of course the playwright's intention was to poke fun at empty-headed bigotry - and there was an actress playing an equally bigoted Catholic matron, to balance things - but satire only works when the audience collaborates with the writer to regard it as satire, and those bigots in the audience were over the moon, hearing the kind of comments they would normally utter under their breath yelled out in a theatre. And Keir, of course, being a splendid actor, gave a bravura performance which only added to the audience's joy. The more he went over the top, the more they loved him.

It was definitely a case of Rangers 10, Celtic 0, instead of the no-scoring draw that I'm sure McMillan intended.

Harry