ABSTRACT
Gavin Turnbull (1765–1816) had married an actress and was living and performing in Dumfries at the time that he and his wife starred in this play. He had befriended Robert Burns as an apprentice weaver in Kilmarnock and the men bonded over their mutual love of composing songs and poetry. Burns later became a mentor, helping Turnbull to get his work published and sold. This musical celebrated the Scots language that these men and others helped to revive in literature during this period. “Taupie” means “fool”; “guidit” means “controlled”; “sillar” means “money”; and “gree” means “agree”. This musical comedy presented the long familiar trope of the soldier who wished to enlist to escape his nagging wife, but it also offered a very flattering portrayal of a soldier’s sweetheart in the bright, faithful and respectable character of Polly.
