Anna Burnside reviews a production that transforms ‘a half-hour sitcom into a joyously bonkers mash-up of nostalgia and modern pantomime’.
Sometimes we want theatre to reflect our turbulent times. At other points, as drones whirr over Iran and oil prices spike, we need a wild campy ride through the Lower Largo Triangle.
So, it’s all aboard Air Scotia for the National Theatre of Scotland reboot of The High Life, Forbes Masson and Alan Cumming’s 1990s BBC series. Co-stars Siobhan Redmond and Patrick Ryecart are also on the passenger manifest along with an impressive chorus and Louise McCarthy as former Tennents’ lager lovely Heather Argyll.
The secret spice in the mid-flight Bloody Mary is Johnny McKnight, whose writing smarts transform a half-hour sitcom into a joyously bonkers mash-up of nostalgia and modern pantomime.
He has imposed a plot, of sorts, onto the catchphrases and character comedy carried over from the original. A mysterious androgynous entrepreneur wants to take over Scotia Airlines and de-tartanify it. Flight 123 crashes over the Lower Largo Triangle with the unwanted venture capitalist on board.
There’s more - possibly a little too much more - but, as in McKnight’s pantos, the key points are underlined and presented in bold in case we miss them.
Other panto tropes start as one thing then pivots to another. Kyle Gardiner’s gormless intern looks like a classic daft laddie while Redmond’s Shona Spurtle has an entrance number worthy of the baddest baddie in the pantosphere.
When it’s time to sing the Air Scotia corporate song, they bring doon the cloot so the audience can join in.
Many of McKnight’s personal panto signatures are here too. The chorus is a talent-packed mix of body shapes and sizes, many familiar from his Tron and MacRobert festive shows. There are not one but two gay love stories, including the obligatory lesbian snog. A few dad jokes make it in, although sadly not the hardy perennial about the baker kneading a jobbie. There are theatrical in-jokes as well as references to Ozempic and Cumming’s role in The Traitors.
Airline gags are also present and correct, including rhyming Jarvis Cocker with overhead locker.
Cumming and Masson revive their roles with huge charm and affection, with Masson doing rather more of the heavy lifting. He graciously heads off jokes about his weight by getting in an early gag about wearing a fat suit.
Redmond is tremendous, rocking the musical numbers and delivering her acidic tongue-twisty lines like an airborne Miss Jean Brodie. Ryecart’s captain is a geriatric agent of chaos, gamely wearing everything from an asymmetric mini kilt to a fluffy dog suit.
And the chorus play a collective blinder, banging out the big numbers and switching not only costumes but wigs with dizzying speed.
The tabasco in the mix, to continue the Bloody Mary metaphor, is the NTS-level budget. The High Life is on a scale of which McKnight’s festive shows can only dream. At his disposal here is a stellar 11-strong cast, plus a five-piece band. Astounding wardrobe and a complex set. The custom-made dog suit. The many, many wigs.
Is this show perfect? No. The start could take a trim. The communal song does not belong in the first half and there’s a handbrake turn after the interval. There is not any need for lavatorial humour, however slight, even in a panto-adjacent production.
Does any of this spoil the enormous and much needed joy of The High Life. Not even close.
The High Life—The Musical tours Scotland until May 23, 2026. For dates and further information, go to the production’s website.
Photos by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
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