Star Tam Dean Burn takes Caledonia stushie online

IT WAS the behind-the-scenes drama within a drama about a disastrous episode in Scottish history that became one of the biggest cultural events of the year - and it shows no sign of coming to an end any time soon.

• Tam Dean Burn, centre, in Caledonia. He claims its author was unaware of flaws Picture: Jane Barlow

One of the stars of the controversial stage play Caledonia has lifted the lid on the chaos behind the flagship National Theatre of Scotland production, and has also laid into critics who savaged the show.

Caledonia, Edinburgh International Festival's flagship theatre production, which received 200,000 in Scottish Government funding, divided both critical and public opinion.

It told the story of the 17th century entrepreneur William Paterson's ill-starred attempts to set up a Scottish colony at Darien in Panama and was one of the biggest commercial successes of this year's festival.

But its writer, Alistair Beaton, famously walked out just days before its premiere and has since vowed never to speak about the play again.

Now actor Tam Dean Burn has branded the rehearsal scripts for the play as "awful" and said Mr Beaton was the one person involved who refused to acknowledge its flaws.

He has branded Mr Beaton a "rat leaving a sinking ship" for quitting and said "alarm bells" should have started ringing for NTS following Mr Beaton's website claim to be the nation's "leading political satirist".

And Mr Burn, writing on a website in response to a scathing magazine article about the show, accused critics of using Caledonia as an excuse for "putting the boot" into NTS.

The article triggered a furious response among leading critics after they were accused of being biased in favour of the production, one of two NTS shows at this year's Edinburgh festivals, fearing the government and city council would target the arts for funding cuts if Caledonia had been badly received.

While many critics ?gave the show favourable reviews, it was derided by others.

Mr Burn, in an extended online rant, said: "I really wish folk wouldn't just use it [Caledonia] as another means to put the boot into NTS.

"Like it or lump it, NTS has been at least attempting to move beyond the miserable mediocrity passing itself off as theatre that has made up the Scottish scene for decades."

He went on: "All I'll say is that the rehearsal script (as anyone can read) and every subsequent rewrite was awful but the one person who refused to recognise that in any way was the writer.

"Things could perhaps have been very different if he had allowed, as is usually the case in theatre, reworking in the rehearsal room but the writer ultimately calls the shots in British theatre at the moment, for good or for bad.

"I have to say that alarm bells should have rung very loudly that on his website Beaton claims categorically in the first line of his biog that he is ‘regarded as Britain's leading political satirist.'"

An Edinburgh International Festival spokesman said: "The show was a big success and every ticket was sold for all seven performances. We don't want to say anything about Tam Dean Burn's comments, however."

A National Theatre of Scotland spokesman said: "The views expressed online by Tam Dean Burn are entirely his own.

"We believe passionately in putting theatre at the heart of Scottish life. The fact that healthy debate has taken place around our production of Caledonia - and its presentation of the events surrounding the Darien disaster - demonstrates that we are succeeding."