@ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 9 Apr 2016
(as part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint)

There’s an odd couple in Holyrood Palace, and for once, that’s no disrespect to Her Maj and Phil. This couple’s four centuries old – James, King of Scots, soon to be VI and I, and male ingenue (mangenue?! – eugh!) kitchen-boy William, who has snuck into the royal bedchamber to swipe some silver. We’re on the eve of James’ departure for Westminster to take the English crown. There’s medieval music in the air, wine in the goblets, and… is that scene-setting incense I can smell or just someone’s perfume?… and as with any play that opens with a barrowload of expletives and a used bedpan, Tim Barrow‘s hour-long comedy grabs attention from the get-go.

There’s layers here. It’s a straight-up buddy comedy between regal top dog and put-upon sidekick, rich in freewheeling Scots pish-taking. It’s a historical vignette, exploring the recesses of King James’ mind as he prepares for the epoch-making union of the thrones. And it’s a commment on the modern day, with James angry that English politicans have “spunked” money away, promising to “cut [the bankers]’ velvet-draped bollocks off”, and William dismissing the “trickle-down pish” of right-wing economics.

The superb writing would be nothing without the right pair to deliver it though, and director Ryan Alexander Dewar could not have two better. As King Jamie, Jimmy Chisholm revels in the raucous Scots roistering – splendidly camp, riotously drunk and thunderously tempered. He combines the best of the beardie BBs: the bellowing presence of Brian Blessed, married to the dopey dilly-dallying of Bill Bailey. He’s one minute pining for the green fields of England, the next slagging the natives. He’s dreamily mourning his “favourite” (nudge nudge, wink wink) Esme Stewart, Duke Of Lennox, then trying it on with the unwilling William.

Gavin Wright is every bit Chisholm’s equal in the double act, regardless of their characters’ respective statuses. Wide-eyed, humble (but no pushover), smart beyond his own ken, we, and his king, grow to love him over the course of the hour, for his everyman wisdom and his unwitting ability to prick King James’ ego and make him see sense. Wright does a perfect job with both delivery and demeanor.

Of late, historical stories get played long and epic, perhaps with one eye on the TV or cinema screen. When done this well, one wonders whether kickabout historical comedy might once again make a welcome tonic to heavy landmark drama – more Blackadder, less Wolf Hall.