Duncan Macrae, born in 1905, was a weel kent name in Scotland during his time as an actor of stage and screens large and small for over 40 years. Despite his past fame and the respect for his craft, his name is now largely only known to folk of an older generation who recall his performances, not least the wonderful comic song The Wee Cock Sparra, writtenby fellow Scottish performer and writer Kenneth McKellar, that became synonymous with him.
Edinburgh born actor Michael Daviot is changing that in his one man play A Noble Clown.Under Michael Nardone’s expert direction, Daviot, whose own build is not dissimilar to Macrae’s rangy frame, cuts about the stage as Macrae, dressed in a grey double breasted 3 piece suit, courtesy of Almut Echtler who is credited with tailoring and costume.
Daviot’s script is delivered with relaxed intimacy in the Glasgow accent that holds a wee touch of Kelvinside with the Gaelic lilt from Macrae’s family history. His life, when he performed in Scottish classics written by major writers of the time such as Robert McLellan, James Bridie and Alexander Reidand across the border in Shakespeare’s Scottish play, Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, Ionesco’sRhinocerosalongside the original production of Joe Orton’s Loot, forms a large part of the narration.
The revelations of a full life are interspersed with a high level of physicality and smatterings of French, giving the inference of more than a passing love of the language by Macrae as he also played in Robert Kemp’s translations into Scots of Molière’s L’École des femmes to Let Wives Tak Tent andL’Avare to The Laird o’ Grippy.
A fair minded family man with a great sense of justice who was interested in Scottish culture and politics ( nae ‘cap in hand’ wi him), Macrae co-founded and served Scottish Equity and loudly promoted Scottish Independence. Daviot conveys a man with a dry, sometimes mischievous, sense of humour yet not without a guid conceit o hissel and hints that he could have been thrawn.
Roddy Simpson’s lights and sound design provide the dramatic aural indications of a scene change as well as letting us sharply imagine the pain inside his head caused by the tumour that eventually killed Macrae in 1967. Innovative visuals (no credit) entertainingly aid this enormous salute to a real giant of Scottish theatre that is a fitting part of a celebration of Scottish Theatre in the mid-20th Century.
Daviot pulls off an impressive feat in representing a man whose immense talent should not be forgotten, so top marks to the Scottish Storytelling Centre for staging this terrific piece of research and writing. The performances deserve to be the first steps on a longer journeyof A Noble Clown to many other Scottish stages in future. As Daviot himself says of Macrae “He and the works …deserve to be rediscovered.”
A Noble Clownwasperformed Saturday 30th November at 7pm and on Sunday 1st December at 3.30pm at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh.
Running time:75mins
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 
Thanks very much for this thoughtful response. MD
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