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Wild Rose: Glasgow country music film blooms as a musical

Pauline McLean
BBC Scotland arts correspondent
Matt Crockett Dawn Sievwright performing as Rose-Lynn Harlan, wearing a tasselled leather jacket and large hooped earrings. She is holding a microphone and has her head held back with her blonde hair flying behind her.Matt Crockett
Dawn Sievewright plays the main role of aspiring Glasgow country singer Rose-Lynn Harlan in the stage version of Wild Rose

Long before Taylor Swift made country music cool, a character called Rose-Lynn Harlan took root in writer Nicole Taylor's head.

"I was just obsessed with this girl who was just chatting away in my mind," she recalls.

"I wanted to bring her to life but back in 2009, country music was the love which daren't speak its name. It was really cringey."

Sixteen years later, Nicole has not only brought Rose-Lynn to the big screen in the Bafta-nominated film Wild Rose, but a stage version is about to have its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh.

The story is the same: Rose-Lynn is a former prisoner and single mum in Glasgow working as a cleaner by day and fronting a country band by night, with dreams of fame tempered by the reality of caring for her two young children.

It's rooted in Glasgow's real-life country music scene, as home to the UK's biggest country club the Grand Ole Opry and Celtic Connections' Transatlantic Sessions.

Mihaela Bodlovic Dawn Sievewright, centre in a yellow jumper and black tros, rehearsing for her part in Wild Rose surrounded by nine other performers standing around a large table.Mihaela Bodlovic
The cast has been rehearsing for months ahead of March's opening shows at the Lyceum in Edinburgh

The film version starred Jessie Buckley as Rose-Lynn, with Julie Walters playing her long suffering mother Marion.

It had its Scottish premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival in 2019.

Nicole, whose screen credits include Three Girls, The Nest and the recent Netflix hit One Day was delighted when the film won audiences and awards, including Best Actress and Best Feature Film at the Scottish BAFTAS.

But she was already thinking where Rose-Lynn could go next and despite never having written for the stage, she reserved the rights for the show.

"I just knew it was naturally theatrical," she says.

"The way she expresses herself through country music. What is that, if not a musical":[]}