AT a time when discipline among real-life British troops in the field is brought into question the issue is timely and the one around which the plot of Tunes of Glory revolves.

In James Kennaway's story, set in a Scottish regiment's barracks in the snowy highlands, the boisterous acting Colonel, Major Jock Sinclair, runs a loose regime, having risen through the ranks.

Things change when Colonel Basil Barrow, a former public schoolboy, arrives to take command, following a path seemingly destined for him as his ancestors also headed up the regiment.

Resentful at having what he considers his right to lead taken away from him, Sinclair (Stuart McGugan) fails to knuckle down to the stiffness of Barrow's (Patrick Ryecart's) style, leading to tension between the two.

Matters are not helped when Barrow targets sloppiness he perceives in the headwear of the regimental band .

They are hardly frontline soldiering matters and probably symptoms of leaving trained fighting men far from the theatres of war with little to do. Although the audience's natural inclination might be to empathise more with Sinclair, it is not as simple as that, as film projections on to the stage backdrop reveal Barrow is still haunted by his experiences as a prisoner of war of the Japanese.

It is an excellent production, convincingly staged and performed by a good cast. Tunes of Glory runs until Saturday.

Review by PETER McMILLAN