Like many other attempts to convert a well-loved film into a barnstorming musical (Wild Rose, Orphans and Local Hero), the adaptation of Restless Natives flounders in the transition from screen to stage. Rather than aggressively explore the political implications of two modern day Robin Hoods or replace the expansive scenes of the Highlands and Big Country’s chiming, anthemic soundtrack, Perth Theatre’s production emphasises a romantic subplot, wistful patriotism and broad comedy, relying on sentimentality and the gusto of the cast. 

When two young men feel the lack of opportunity in Thatcher’s Scotland, they take to the road as bandits, stealing from tourist tours and offering a much-needed hope to the people of Edinburgh. Ironically, they become a tourist attraction as they are dragged further into the violent implications of their actions. The first act promises an investigation into the conflict between ambitious youth and social restraint, the competing ideas of justice and romantic rebellion: the repeated refrain of Big Country’s eponymous hit aligns the duo of Clown and Wolfman with Robert The Bruce and Rob Roy. Yet the emergence of a serious gangster in act two, and the romance between Wolfman and a tour guide reduces the action to a simplistic morality tale.

There are glimmers of brilliance: a set which captures both the open road and the oppression of a nation reduced to a holiday destination; the charisma of the leads and the ensemble’s versatility; the conflicted emotions of the police and, in a single song, an analysis of male fragility that is all too quickly resolved. Unfortunately, these are lost in a score that is predictable, a libretto that relies heavily on a rhyming dictionary (reducing emotions to cliché) and a failure to replace the cinematic scope of the source with a forceful theatricality.

Restless Natives is on tour until Saturday 28 June; main picture: Mihaela Bodlovic.