Performances
Performances May 2025 see What's On page
For further information email info@savoyoperacompany.com
Dramatis Personae
Davie Deans (a Cameronian) - David Young
George Stainton (alias Robertson)(Lover of Effie Deans) - Timothy Daly
John Dumbie (Laird of Dumbiedykes) - Austin Moore
John, Duke of Argyll - David Eckstein
Jeanie Deans (Daughter of David Deans) - Jayne Pickering
Effie Deans (Daughter of David Deans) - Julia Allsop
Madge Wildfire (an outcast) - Katrina Waters
Janet Balcristie (Housekeeper to Dumbiedykes) - Merrin Torpy
Queen Caroline (Consort of George II) - Kerrie Bolton
Lady Suffolk (In attendance on the Queen) - Alicia Groves
Synopsis
When Jeanie Deans' sister, Effie, is wrongly convicted of murdering her own child, Jeanie travels, partly by foot, all the way to London. Her plan is to appeal to Queen Caroline and receive a pardon for her sister who languishes in prison awaiting execution.
She begins walking on her bare feet to save her shoes but puts them on when she passes through towns and villages.
By a series of improbable adventures, involving the true abductors of her sister's baby son, she finds George Staunton alias Robertson who had fathered the child. Thereafter she travels on by coach and on reaching London she seeks out the Duke of Argyll who takes her to meet Queen Caroline at Richmond Lodge.
She impresses the Queen with her eloquence, spoken in broad Scots. The Queen promises to intercede with King George II, and she ensures that her sister is granted a pardon, on pain of being banished from Scotland for fourteen years.
The story continues
When Jeanie returns to Scotland, she finds that the Duke of Argyll had given her father land to superintend at Rosneath in Argyll. She is also overjoyed to find that her fiancé, Reuben Butler, has been appointed Minister at the neighbouring kirk of Knocktarlitie.
She subsequently marries Butler and raises three children named David, Reuben and Euphemia. Jeanie's sister, Effie, pays her a clandestine visit to inform her that she had married her lover who was now Sir George Staunton.
Jeanie later learns that her sister's child had not been murdered but was sold to a Highland brigand and was reared to a life of robbery and violence.
Sir George travels with Butler to visit Knocktarlitie but, caught by a storm, they arrive at a nearby smuggler’s cove. He is shot by his own son, who escapes to America, gets into trouble, joins a tribe of Native Americans and is heard of no more.
As Lady Staunton, Effie takes her place in London society but eventually retires to a French convent, much to her sister's disappointment at her relinquishing her father's religion.