King of the Fields

A play set in Ayrshire after the First World War, with touches of Ibsen - from the acclaimed Scottish playwright. Matt has returned from life on the road, haunted by his experience of the trenches. For sixteen years, his brother Rob has broken his back to build a haulage business in a tough rural community. He has married Catherine, a restless city girl, who shows an unsettling interest in the new arrival. Driven by birthright and rivalry, the two brothers are drawn into a remorseless life-or-death struggle for control of the business and of Catherine. With its isolated setting, its action set in train by an unexpected arrival and its impassioned characters whose strong feelings run deep beneath their words, King of the Fields has a strength reminiscent of the plays of Ibsen. Stuart Paterson's play was first staged at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1999.