Swindle & Death

How might a Scottish Arts Council (SAC) report on this production read?

More importantly, how much entertainment does it provide to those with no interest whatsoever in such things, and simply want a good night out?

Playwright Peter Arnott has written an uneven play - part madcap black comedy, part rant - about a thoroughly bizarre and unmistakably Scottish touring theatre company.

Brian Swindle and Eric Death bring tales of high drama to grateful audiences in out-of-the-way locations, without a penny of funding or any reviews in The Herald. When a spy from the SAC arrives to investigate, the continued existence of Swindle & Death initially appears to be threatened.

There are plenty of laughs in the 'vulgar tartanism' of the extracts we see from the company's repertoire, thanks to the efforts Hamish Wilson as Swindle and Barrie Hunter and Sarah Haworth as his two very strange actors. Helen McAlpine is also excellent as the self-important, idealistic infiltrator, squeezing comedy out of thin, one-note material.

The play's second half drags on, sorely lacking in laughs and momentum. After countless hints relating to the central mystery behind the company's formation and continued existence, the conclusion is unsatisfying.

It seems fair to say that Arnott feels pretty strongly about the priorities of those dishing out funding for the arts. He perhaps expresses this best not via the dialogue itself but rather by the fact that he has written a play for such a narrow audience ' himself and his peers in the arts world. What better way to stick two fingers up to an organisation he perceives to be obsessed with 'inclusion'?