Some songs never age. Loch Lomond is one of them. Its melody has been softened by time, sung sweetly at gatherings, remembered as a tune of parting lovers. But its roots are darker. A Jacobite song of defeat, written for those who would never return home alive.
That duality of beauty tangled with grief is at the center of The Roads to Loch Lomond. The regional premiere arrives October 8, after being workshopped in our Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre.
“OH, YE’LL TAKE THE HIGH ROAD
AND I’LL TAKE THE LOW ROAD”
The traditional Scottish ballad “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond” (often shortened to Loch Lomond) carries a heartbreaking history beneath its hauntingly beautiful melody.
Between the High Road and the Low Road
The most widely accepted story connects it to the Jacobite Rising of 1745–46, when Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) and his supporters tried to reclaim the British throne for the Stuarts. After the Jacobites were defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, many captured soldiers were executed, while others were imprisoned or exiled.
The ballad is often thought to have been written from the perspective of a captured Jacobite soldier awaiting execution in London. Over time, however, its meaning shifted.
By the late 19th and 20th centuries, the song was embraced less as a political lament and more as a wistful love ballad. By the time artists like Runrig, Peter Hollens, and traditional choirs were recording it in the 20th and 21st centuries, it had become one of Scotland’s unofficial anthems, nostalgic, tender, and romantic.
The Ballad That Became a Musical
In the play, The Roads to Loch Lomond, two brothers find themselves trapped between loyalty, family, and the inevitability of loss. Westside Theatre Reviews called it “a show that grabs the heart,” reminding us that the cost of rebellion is measured in lives, not victories.
As BroadwayWorld noted, “over the roughly two-hour performance, I heard several gasps, many sniffles, and a good amount of all-out crying.” Oregon ArtsWatch called it “a majestic musical tragedy about love, obsessions, and duty.”
Today, most people hear it as a bittersweet love song. But if you know its Jacobite roots, those words take on a much sharper edge. Which is why The Roads to Loch Lomond feels so important: it returns to the song’s original grief and gravity, asking us to hold both interpretations at once, the love ballad we’ve grown up with, and the lament it was meant to be.
The Roads to Loch Lomond doesn’t resolve that ache. It leans into it, giving audiences a space to reflect and remember. As part of beginning the season, it sets the tone: this is a year about stories that change everything. Stories that remind us why song survives when so much else falls away.
In 2025, the refrain still cuts close. We are living through constant separations from political, personal, to spiritual. And like the ballad, we’re left asking who makes it home, and who doesn’t.
Event Details
What: The Roads to Loch Lomond
When: October 8 – November 2, 2025
Where: The Phoenix Theatre Company, Hormel Theatre, 1825 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004
Tickets: Available at www.phoenixtheatre.com or by calling the Box Office at (602) 254-2151
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