The previous hits of writer Stuart Thomas include Jive! Jive! Jive! and A Is for Abba, so you might understandably have low expectations for his historical drama. You would be wrong. Damn'd Jacobite Bitches reveals Thomas to be a writer of wit and intelligence, with a feeling for the endless political complexities of Scottish history.
Four women gather for dinner and discuss their part in the recently crushed Jacobite rebellion. Bonnie Prince Charlie, its glorious leader, is revealed as having been an unmitigated bastard towards all four, and jealousy rears its head. The women grow more and more impeccably defensive in their bickering, until it would be easy to forget they are all meant to be on the same side.
Thomas manages to infuse the historical gossip with enough political integrity to make it substantial. But the chief attraction of his script is its wit. Anne Macintosh says to Flora MacDonald, the woman who famously saved Charlie's life by escorting him to Skye disguised as her Irish maid: "I want fame that lasts! Statues! Biscuit tins!"
It would be easy for Thomas to get caught up in dashing off this kind of line. But he does not shy away from historical context. Much of this is provided by Charles, whose narrations of the rebellion provide a backbone for the play. This Charlie, played by Stephen Scott, is a man of hubris and ambition. But most importantly he is simply a man, whose pride can be wounded. Thomas impressively conveys the way the political and the personal are stirred up in one dirty mixing bowl: if you give one man that much authority, his tiniest flaws may lead to the slaughter of thousands.
Mary McCluskey's production keeps the pace quick, and the cast respond with precision and vigour. Nicola Burnett Smith is particularly good as the engagingly rude Anne Macintosh, who spars splendidly with Anne Marie Timoney's puritanical Jenny Cameron. Vivien Reid's Flora MacDonald is spiritedly embittered. And Rae Hendrie as Clementine Walkinshaw completes the quartet with the passionate restraint of an Austen heroine.
· Until December 21. Box office: 0141-429 0022.
