A observe pushed below a door is the beginning of a relationship between two individuals and between individuals and paper. The detritus that makes up our lives: tickets, menus, postcards, paper lanterns, origami roses and cranes. Many, if not most of us have that field of paper recollections that transport us again in time and place. Memories. Treasures.
The late Oliver Emanuel and Gareth Williams’ A History of Paper began life as a 2016 radio play and arrives in Glasgow after profitable outings at Dundee Rep and a bought out run on the Traverse in Edinburgh throughout The Fringe. Now a play with music slightly than an out-right musical, director Andrew Panton deftly handles this intimate and poignant exploration of affection and loss.
It’s the Southside of Glasgow in 1999, the eve of the noughties, with Y2K looming giant. It’s journey and life-style journalist (Emma Mullen) and bookseller and would-be writer (Christopher Jordan-Marshall) whose lives intertwine when that fateful observe slips below the door. She moaning at him nursing his damaged coronary heart to the sound of Radiohead at full quantity by means of the paper-thin partitions. A History of Paper charts their life collectively as much as and past the catastrophic tragedy that befalls them. Each piece of ephemera value its weight in recollections.
Scottish expertise Christopher Jordan-Marshall and Emma Mullen play the central pair with musical director Gavin Whitworth offering the gorgeous sounding piano accompaniment. Jordan-Marshall and Mullen pitch their performances completely, conserving it the proper facet of plausible all through. So a lot in order that there’s a wave of emotion from the viewers on the finish. Few failing to be moved by the motion. The songs too assist within the emotional journey, not solely pulling you in to the central relationship however pulling your heartstrings too.
In our more and more digital world it reminds us that items of paper actually can change hearts and minds and that straightforward, considerate human tales fantastically informed, make the world a greater place.
Five stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Runs till 14 September 2024 | Images: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
