SUNSHINE ON LEITH. To 28 February.
Coventry.
SUNSHINE ON LEITH
by Stephen Greenhorn.
Belgrade Theatre To 28 February 2009.
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 2.30pm.
Audio-described 28 Feb 2.30pm.
BSL Signed 27 Feb.
Runs 2hr 40min One interval.
TICKETS: 024 7655 3055.
www.belgrade.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 25 February.
About Leith, from Dundee: looks good, thrilling sounds.
Thank goodness for auld alliances. Belgrade director Hamish Glen set-up the acting ensemble at Dundee Rep during his time there, and the connection’s made Coventry the only English date on the tour of a musical which must be the biggest commercial success of Dundee’s fine company to date.
It examines a geographical fissure as keen as the one between Scotland and England, or the Scottish capital and Glasgow: the one between Edinburgh and Leith, the port to its north-east which has become famous as Trainspotting territory.
Not that established Scottish playwright Stephen Greenhorn takes us to Irvine Welsh country. His is a wholesome tale of family disputes and rifts, a world where returning to Iraq as a squaddie is preferable to being alone at home. Where a decades-old misjudgement almost splits a marriage. And where an anniversary celebration leads to a failed proposal, a near-divorce and, of course, fighting.
It’s not profound; nor would its audiences want it to be. It’s something more appropriate for a popular musical: recognisable, sympathetic, a sour-sweet confection where sentiment almost bubbles over and is given a sugared edge with humour. The secret weapon for that is John Buick, an actor whose range of characterisation has grown with Dundee’s Ensemble, and who here reveals a firm singing voice too. And no-one can deliver a comic one-liner that’s more brisk, or precisely weighted.
This isn’t gentrified water’s-edge Leith. It’s a place where a docker’s been long-term unemployed, where the nearest to adjacent Edinburgh’s Royal Mile is his wife’s job as a cleaner at Holyrood (Ann Louise Ross giving a firm depiction of years of love feeling suddenly betrayed), and where the young men’s girlfriends are hard-working nurses. But all have a resilient cheerfulness when the emotional storms aren’t directly overhead.
For this is a musical, and the score by The Proclaimers (Edinburgh-born brothers Charlie and Craig Reid) have a lithe, muscular melodic attraction, adapting to lyrical and turbulent moments in the characters’ lives. James Brining’s production matches Greenhorn’s daily lives and loves with these songs to create a piece that clearly speaks, and sings, to many.
Cast:
John Buick, Nicola Jo Cully, Craig Deuchar, Ewan Donald, Keith Fleming, Donna Giffen, Denise Hoey, Barrie Hunter, Julie Jupp, Gavin Kean, Kevin Lennon, Ann Louise Ross, Tony Strachan, Gail Watson, Judith Williams.
Director: James Brining.
Designer: Neil Warmington.
Lighting: Oliver Fenwick.
Sound: Tommy Gorman.
Arranger/Musical Director: Hilary Brooks.
Choreographer: Lizzi Gee.
Vocal coach: Lorna Brooks.
Fight arranger: Raymond Short.
Assistant director: Julie Ellen.
Associate lighting: Howard Luscombe.
Assistant musical director: Jon Beales.
Associate choreographer: Annalisa Rossi.
2009-02-26 08:34:47