FOLLOWING on the huge success of 2015’s tour of The Slab Boys, The King’s Theatre, Edinburgh was delighted to host Cuttin’ A Rug, the second part of John Byrne’s trilogy of plays regarding the exploits of the staff of a 1950’s carpet factory in Paisley, writes Kerry Black.

To see this play under Byrne’s magnificent domed artwork on the theatre roof was an incredible experience.

Folk love these truly Scottish plays, with their humour, pathos and memories of a time when all you needed for a big Saturday night oot was a pair of brother creepers and a bootleg tie or a paper nylon petticoat plus enough Rum and Pep or bravado to get you through the night!

While the Slab Boys was directed by original cast member David Hayman and portrayed the staff at work mixing the dye for the carpet factory, Cuttin’ A Rug takes us to later in the same day as they head to the “staffie” or annual works dance.

Directed by Caroline Paterson, who originally played Lucille, the object of lust of all plooky slab boys, this episode once again started at Glasgow Citizens Theatre before embarking on tour.

What is it about these plays that makes cast members and audiences revisit them over and over again? Nostalgia for days gone by is surely a factor but more than that these plays with their razor sharp one liners have a real heart. There were whole sequences where you could hardly hear the script as the audience roared with laughter!

Opening with the entire cast facing a creaky black & white film called Paisley Patterns, the complete first act takes place in the ladies and gents cloakroom of the town hall as they get ready to head to their big staff do. The way the cast move as they powder their noses and backcomb their hair is almost balletic, while the lines run slicker than Brylcreem.

Reuniting most of the characters from The Slab Boys, the only actor to actually reprise his role is Scott Fletcher as the hapless Hector, the bullied underdog who dreams of escorting Lucille to the big dance.

Meanwhile the pencil skirted, lippy Lucille (Helen Mallon), has settled for dreepy Alan (Shaun Miller), in his dad’s car and oversized dinner suit as he is at “the uni” and appears to offer her a better future than the likes of Phil and Spanky, ( brilliantly played by Ryan Fletcher and Paul-James Corrigan).

TV legend Barbara Rafferty (Ella Cotter) stars as Sadie, the tea lady, all dressed up for a night on the town if only her poor swollen feet can survive the night, while Anne Lacey plays Miss Walkinshaw, the obligatory office auld maid, whose dreams of marriage and Clark Gable were thwarted by her hideous mother. Completing the female cast is the hilarious brassy, blonde Bernadette (Louise McCarthy) who is accompanied to the dance by her chakkit boyfriend Terry (Mark Barrett). Believing Hector to be at “the uni”, she sets her sights and rustling petticoats on entrapping him!

The second half stage design and lighting representing Paisley Town Hall lent itself well to the madcap chase sequence as their poor gaffer Willie Currie (the pompously grand Laurie Ventry) tries to hold the night together, before tragedy strikes and rock ’n’ roll takes its toll.

Cuttin’ A Rug was at Edinburgh King’s Theatre from Tuesday 7th to Saturday 11th March at 7.30pm nightly, with a 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Tickets are available from £ 20.50 on 0131 529 6000.