Event: Pirates of the State, play, Kilmardinny House, Bearsden

Review by Jennifer Wilson, 40-ish, Glasgow: four stars

Written and directed by John Crooks, the play is based on the story of a group of young people who stand up against the Nazis and refuse to be part of the Hitler Youth.

The play itself had a good pace, the writing kept your interest and the young actors themselves were all very convincing. Some hailed from local secondary schools such as Douglas Academy and others have come from Saturday morning classes at the Royal Conservatoire.

The play was billed as being suitable for all ages and we had some young audience members with us, ages ranging from 8 upwards. Always the harshest critics, these young people were enthralled by the play! The language was youthful and they could relate to this. And there were nice touches of humour and of adventure as well to keep them (and us) entertained.

I personally particularly liked the second last scene where focus changed from one group of people to another very nicely.

Hopefully the group might take this play to other places such as the Fringe but in the meantime this play deserves another round of applause for both entertaining but also informing us about some forgotten history from World War 2.