Don Quixote is a story that continues to spark the imagination, even after hundreds of years.
Now, Dundee Rep and Horsecross Arts in Perth are preparing to present a modern-day Scottish version of Spaniard Miguel de Cervantes’ 17th Century classic.
A reimagining of the classic
In a reimagining of the epic tale of misguided heroism, artistic director of Perth Theatre, Lu Kemp, and playwright Ben Lewis have worked together to create Don Quixote: Man of Clackmannanshire.
The co-production sees the play run at Dundee Rep from tomorrow until October 15 before transferring to Perth Theatre from October 25 to November 5.
Complete with a live flamenco guitar score, 87-year-old Don (played by Benny Young) is stuck at home facing a crisis of whether he is able to continue to look after himself.
Off on an adventure
He decides to saddle up on his mobility scooter and go on an adventure, taking his young nephew Sandy (Sean Connor) along for the ride.
Lu explains: “Don Quixote is so much about a man who has had enough and believes the world needs saving. So he chooses to go forth and save it.
“Cervantes writes about a knight who reads too many novels of chivalric endeavours. He stuffs his head full of heroes slaying dragons and rescuing maidens, and decides to do the same. Of course, everybody thinks he is mad – but also he canvases a following out of it.”
She goes on: “But that’s what we want: somebody who will lead the way out of all of the troubles that we face and take us into a new, braver and better world. There’s something genuinely heroic about Don Quixote because he sees things both as they truly are, and also as they are not.
‘He elevates people’
“He elevates people, and that’s part of what’s beautiful about it. He gives people who are not necessarily in their best state the virtue and grace of being wonderful.”
The play, which also stars Irene Macdougall, Nicole Sawyerr and Emily Winter, was born out of a shorter piece that Lu and Ben worked on back in 2014.
Lu says: “We originally did this at Òran Mór as part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint – under an hour long in a very silly version. Since I began at Perth I have wanted to turn it into a full-length play.”
She goes on: “You can come see this play and know nothing about the original story and it will work. But, if you come knowing the original story, then I hope that the translation of the original incidents into the ones that you see on stage will be delightful, playful and funny.
“I hope they will inspire in the audience all of those conversations around shift and change and how we adapt as a species to the coming storms.”
Lu says it’s possible Don’s mind is slipping and his memory is leaving him, but the question is: should we resist the worlds that somebody creates or go along with them?
She adds: “Benny Young is an astonishing actor and the perfect Don Quixote – because you need somebody who is deeply loveable and sincere in order for us to go along with him.”
