CAN you possibly imagine this: Fran and Anna back on stage, singing, dancing, whirling and whooping, all tiny tartan mini-kilts, rouged cheeks, feathered hats and fishnet tights?

For those who don’t know Fran and Anna, the singing sisters from Coatbridge were either an act which underlined the very essence of Scottishness, two poster girls for Caledonia with the uncanny knack of using kitsch to sell a unique double act. . .or they were cartoonish and comical, regarded by many as mutton dressed as Scotch lamb, and without any real understanding that they were being mocked by the likes of Jack McLaughlin on STV’s Thingummyjig.

The pen portrait is relevant. This week in Oran Mor sees the arrival of writer Lynn Ferguson’s new play, Turns Of The Tide. Set in the cabin of a cruise ship, it features a Scottish double act The Heather Belles, “two identical sisters” who perform an act that is uncannily like that of Fran and Anna.

The shortbread tin sisters, Sandy and Rose, played by Julie Coombe and Libby McArthur, are however not identical in every way. It’s not quite an Arnold Schwarzenneger/Danny DeVito situation of 1988 film Twins but, says Coombe, “it all unravels.”

We come to understand there is more to the sisters than meets the eye when it comes to packing up their mini-kilts and setting off back to Bo'ness where they will spend Christmas with their elderly mother.

“Sandy, for years, has been trying to learn the truth about her life. Even though she’s been on the cruise ships for the past 20 years she has been something of a detective, trying to piece together the parts of her life.

“She can’t bear to be half of something any more. As a result, she’s never off the Google. And because she’s questioning everything about herself, this means she’s also questioning everything about her sister.”

Ah, delightful existentialist tartan angst is always a great precursor for comedy. And to add to the conflict, ie, the fun, Rose, is a softer, less enquiring creature.

“Yes, but Rose has her own secrets,” says Coombe. “She may not be worried about the past, but she knows something of the future that has a real bearing on their lives.”

Gosh. Meantime, Gordon the Contortionist (Mark McDonnell) is looking in. But will this be their last performance onboard?

What’s entirely clear is that the Coombe and McArthur have been working to invoke the spirit of Fran and Anna. “We’re trying,” says Coombe smiling. “We’ve been watching videos of their old performances."

Coombe, who grew up in Kilwinning in Ayrshire, doesn’t have to use too much imagination to skip into the role of the tartan performer. “I used to do Highland dancing when I was young,” she says, smiling in recall. “I began at the age of four and was always in competitions.”

She adds, in proud voice, “I’m much decorated. But I really feel for my poor mother who had to take me round Ayrshire on the bus, before we managed to get a lift in a car pool.

“Thankfully, my auntie was a dressmaker and she’d make my outfits for the Flora MacDonalds.”

The what? “It’s an actual dance and you wear a different outfit for it. It’s the Scottish equivalent of Strictly.”

The tartaned Coombe made her first appearance on the theatre stage aged seven at the Pride of the Clyde variety show at the Pavilion Theatre.

How competitive was the world of Highland dancing? Were there lots of stepping on toes along the way? “Well, it never quite got to the level of I, Tonya,” she says grinning of the savage world of ice skating revealed in the life story of Tonya Harding in the 2017 movie.

Coombe, who created the hit show Hormonal Housewives and is working on a TV sitcom, adds: “But we had to work hard. And it was always about pleasing the judges. For example, some liked us to wear our hair up, some down. You needed to learn that sort of detail.”

But what of Fran and Anna Watt (who also worked the cruise ships for years)? Were they an example of female empowerment in that they knew what they were doing, and unlike Sandy and Rose, knew exactly who they were?

“I would like to think they did get,” says the actress. “They came from a showbiz family (the sisters performed for almost seven decades) and they worked on their own terms. The world of variety was really tough and I think the girls developed a thick skin.”

She adds, smiling: “Who really knows, though? Privately Fran and Anna may have been throwing darts at pics of Jack McLaughlin.”

Turns of the Tide, Oran Mor, Glasgow, until Saturday.