Today’s front pages are filled with pictures of opportunistic scavengers on the Devon coastline. With the wrecked MSC Napoli lying off Sidmouth, people have been gleefully rifling the containers which have reached the shore for the booty within: bicycles, carpets, shoes, car parts and much more. There has been one universal point of reference: no report is filed without mentioning Whisky Galore, and scenes of men carrying away wine barrels in rowing boats are strongly reminiscent of the classic Ealing comedy based of course on a true wartime incident.

There is no better time to relive those famous events and, as it happens, Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company is engaged in just that, with the world premiere of WHISKY GALORE! THE MAKING OF A FILLUM already in rehearsal ahead of a UK tour. The much-loved tale is given a new and highly theatrical twist as the Playhouse’s Artistic Director Giles Croft directs his own script, adapted from Compton Mackenzie’s original book and the screenplay by Mackenzie and Angus MacPhail. Premiering at Nottingham Playhouse (with Bentley Jennison as sponsors of the Press Night on Tuesday 6 February), WHISKY GALORE! THE MAKING OF A FILLUM then tours nationally in association with BV Productions. The full list of venues is as follows:                

Nottingham Playhouse      Friday 2  Saturday 17 Feb                    Box Office: 0115 941 9419

Theatre Royal, Glasgow    Tues 20  Sat 24 Feb                              Box Office:  0870 060 6647    

Hackney Empire, London Mon 26 Feb  Sat 3 Mar                         Box Office: 020 8985 2424

Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne  Mon 5  Sat 10 Mar                Box Office: 01323 412000

Theatre Royal, Windsor     Mon 19  Sat 24 Mar                               Box Office: 01753 853888

Liverpool Playhouse          Mon 26  Sat 31 Mar                               Box Office: 0151 709 4776

When the SS Politician ran aground in February 1941, with 260,000 bottles of US-bound whisky in its hold, it started the longest happy hour in the history of the Hebrides and launched an enduring legend. The man responsible for keeping its tale afloat was Compton Mackenzie, already famed as a novelist, playwright and journalist, who lived locally at the time and happily took receipt of some of the looted cargo. Mackenzie realised the incident’ comic potential in his 1947 novel Whisky Galore. Shot the following year, Alexander Mackendrick’s economical and vibrant Ealing film  or ’fillum’ in the parlance of the islanders spread its fame.

Giles Croft’ new production perpetuates the legend with a behind-the-screen drama that  just like the original  is firmly founded on fact but deliciously embellished with a nip of dramatic licence. It is based on the fact that the director Alexander Mackendrick, arriving on the isle of Barra to begin shooting, tore up the script and ordered a hasty rewrite. In the play, Mackendrick and the film’ producer meet in Compton Mackenzie’ study on the island, along with Mackenzie’ secretary, his nephew and actress Joan Greenwood, to approve the new script. They assign roles and the reading turns into a madcap frenzy as they switch rapidly from one character to another and grab objects from around the study to serve as props. Richard Shelton (Emmerdale, Rat Pack Confidential), Karen Drury (Brookside, The Shell Seekers) and Robert Austin (National Theatre of Brent, Major Barbara) lead the cast.

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