³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Bruce Morton

This Friday, Radio Scotland broadcasts a drama called Rain, written by comedian . The play stars Ford Kiernan of Chewing the Fat fame and deals with issues of climate change, tabloid hysteria and charts one man's decision to leave Scotland and head out into the unknown in his second-hand tug boat, Bruce tells us more below:

Rain is a kind of a black comedy. Set in the not so far future.

As the climate changes and the seas rise and a Scottish coastal town struggles under a foot of water, a young man called John shows up on the quayside to carry out a community service order. There, he meets an old man who is loading a tugboat with his possessions, planning to sail away. The old man invites John to join him on this seemingly desperate voyage. Persuasive, mischievous, the old man, Terry, presents John with a choice between the devil you know and, well, the deep blue sea. What follows is blur of shifting morality against a background of rising water.

And whenever this youngster thinks he has this old man sussed, Terry produces yet another wild card.

Rain is part drama, part comedy and partly a commentary about environment. There are some themes about trust, about value judgements and about freedom. And, forgive me, a few twisted jokes too.

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ asked me to think of appropriate music for this play. I think that All Along The Watchtower fits. We have all, I'm sure, thought at one time or another "There must be some way out of here.."

The play was originally devised and produced for the lunchtime theatre series "" at Oran Mor Glasgow in 2006. I am flattered that some people at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ thought there was enough in it to warrant an adaptation. Hope you like it.

Listen to Rain, Friday 1130 on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Scotland and available for 7 days in iPlayer.