Stars of hit Black Watch reveal what it is like being the face of Scotland's most famous regiment

Apr 13 2008 By Billy Sloan

Exclusive The Gripping Drama About A Group Of Scots Squaddies Serving In Iraq Has Become A Must-See Global Sensation. Two Of Its Stars Reveal What It Is Like To Be The Face Of Scotland's Most Celebrated Regiment

IT'S the controversial Scottish theatrical tour de force which has become such a global phenomenon Prince Charles couldn't get a ticket to see it.

The Black Watch - which tells the moving story of a group of Fife squaddies in Iraq - has earned rave worldwide reviews.

But when the Prince tried to get in the answer was a firm, but polite, no.

Ali Craig, 26 - who plays Stuartie - said: "He wanted to come to a show in Edinburgh but tickets were like golddust and we didn't have enough for his entourage.

"It's hard to know what he'd make of it. As a parent with sons in the forces I'd like to think it would make him think of modern warfare and what soldiers are up against.

"It's a very dangerous and elaborate game of hide and seek."

Emun Elliott, 24 - who plays Franzie - added: "I hope he would agree this is an important piece of theatre the world should see."

Tomorrow the National Theatre of Scotland's award-winning play continues a week-long run at the SECC in Glasgow.

It is part of a sell-out tour which began at the Edinburgh Festival in 2006 and has visited Los Angeles, New York, Sydney and Wellington, New Zealand.

Fans include Sir Sean Connery, rock star Lou Reed, actors Liam Neeson, Alan Cumming and Brian Cox plus four-time Oscar-winning story in settings from a Fife pub pool room to Camp Dogwood, Baghdad.

It reveals their experiences at the sharp end of the war on terror and what it means to make the journey home again.

The play's emotional climax comes when three squaddies are blown up by a suicide bomber.

Burke won a Writer's Guild Award for Best New Play and a BBC Scotland documentary about the play lifted a Bafta.

After a 23-night sell-out run in Brooklyn it topped the Best of 2007 lists in the New York Times and Newsweek magazine.

Emun - whose father is from Iran - revealed that appearing in such a thought-provoking play had a profound effect on the cast, which includes ex-River City star Michael Nardone.

He said: "I was born in Scotland but have family in the Middle East so I had a few barriers to break down before I could play a British soldier.

"My family are my harshest critics but they keep coming back so I must be doing OK."

Before the show opened the cast were sent to "boot camp" to get into shape.

Emun, 24, said: "An army drill sergeant shouted at us for three hours every day. It was terrifying."

Ali, 26, added: "He tried to instill movie directors Joel and Ethan

Coen.

And Prince Charles might get another chance to see it in London in June.

The play - written by Gregory Burke - is a docu-drama based on his interviews with former Black Watch soldiers who served on the frontline.

The ripe dialogue portrays their the real pride of The Black Watch regiment while at the same time really putting the s*** up us."

The Black Watch are arguably Scotland's best known regiment and served the Crown from September 1739 to March 2006. They gained 164 battle honours and 14 VCs.

As part of the Government's 2006 reorganisation of the Army, the Black Watch will not be a regiment in its own right but will become a battalion within a new Scottish regiment.

Earlier this month, the play was performed in Glenrothes. Fife is one of the regiment's traditional recruiting grounds.

Ali said: "I'm from Rosyth and many of my pals joined the army. I had to really do my research because I didn't want to p*** them off by pretending to be a soldier.

When squaddies came to see it and Said it's exactly what it's like we knew then we had something special."

Emun added: "It's very emotional, especially in Glenrothes. The Fife audiences know the types of people the script is based on.

" The parents of a young soldier who was killed by a suicide bomber came to see it. I hope they and other parents take comfort from what we're doing - maybe if we get it right it can help create a bit of closure for them."

Ali's character is based on the story of former squaddie Davie Ironside, who suffered from severe depression after serving in Iraq and came to see the show in Dingwall.

The actor admitted it was his most nerve-wracking performance.

Ali said: "I was playing soldiers but the guy who'd gone through all this was sitting in the audience.

"I later found out there were times when his wife and sister had to keep hold of him as he wanted to get on stage and be involved.

"After the show I shook Davie's hand, bowed my head and tried to get away fast. I didn't want to think I'd offended him in any way.

"But Davie said: 'You got everything spot on...everyone captured the essence of serving in Iraq'."

In October, the play will return to New York by public demand.

Ali said: "There are similarities between The Black Watch and US Marines. I said to one marine: 'Are you okay with us calling you fat b******s?' "He replied: 'That's exactly what The Black Watch guys used to shout at us'." The play won rave reviews in the US even although it does not endorse the gung-ho attitude to the war followed by many Americans.

Emun said: "We worried they'd hate us because we don't tell the story as it's portrayed on US news channels. But we don't play safe.

"Even though we got criticism there was something very refreshing about somebody from the other side of the globe being so honest. They weren't completely foreign to these points of view."

Ali added: "It's branded a political piece but I don't agree. It's a very humane story.

"We're not ramming a particular political view down anybody's throat.

We're just saying, 'This is their story - make of it what you will'."

MAILFILE: WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

New York Times: "Every moment seems to bleed from the previous one in an uninterrupted river of sensations ...one of the most richly human works of art to emerge from this long-lived war."

Washington Post: "Rarely has the torpor, the tension, the nerve-shattering randomness of this conflict's violence been made so agonizingly real."

The Guardian: "A show that has, justly, become a landmark in modern Scottish theatre."

The Times: "One of the things this magnificent, epic piece of theatre dramatises most effectively is the old truism that soldiers do not fight for their country or for a cause but for their unit and for each other."

Variety: "Beneath it all is the low, unmistakably Scottish hum that signals an inescapable call to duty."

Sydney Morning Herald: "A spirited, explosive production. The opening-night crowd was plunged into stunned silence."

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