There’s a lot debate about illustration in theatre in the mean time, seeing ourselves mirrored within the faces, phrases and music on stage. Finding a connection, a belonging, a standard floor with the fabric we watch. Thankfully for these of us north of the border there’s at the moment a renaissance in Scottish theatre, both written by, set in, or starring native theatrical expertise.
Raw, actual and relatable tales appear to be on the forefront: love and loss in A History of Paper, the turmoil of rising up homosexual in a metal city within the 80s and 90s in Maggie and Me, the Brent Spar oil fiasco in To Save The Sea and fame, household and pre and put up natal melancholy in Laura Wilde and Johnny McKnight’s No Love Songs. Each has confirmed to be a triumph.
Based on an authentic concept by real-life companions Laura Wilde and Kyle Falconer (lead singer of Dundee band The View, who supplies the music) it was first staged on the Traverse Theatre through the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It has additionally had stints in London, Greenwich, USA and can open off-Broadway subsequent yr.
Lana and Jesse’s eyes meet throughout the sticky flooring of a dodgy Dundee membership. She a trend scholar, he the singer in an up and coming band. Their fledgling relationship takes a severe flip when the unprepared pair discover out they’re about to be mother and father. While Jesse is touring the US as a help act to a giant identify band, Lana is knee deep in nappies, three flights up of their Dundee tenement flat, making an attempt to barter a life as far eliminated because it might be from the one she imagined for herself.
While this uncooked piece of gig theatre tackles materials that’s typically unrecorded and ignored, it does so with a tenderness and sensitivity that’s laudable. All the anticipated dry Scottish humour is right here as is the tough and actual banter between two lovers. Wrapping round all of this are Falconer’s re-worked songs from his second solo album, performed in equal elements with vigour and vulnerability by the vastly gifted John McLarnon (Jesse) and finesse by musical director Gavin Whitworth on keys as Jesse’s bandmate. Anna Russell-Martin’s Lana is the guts of the piece and her unvarnished vocals tear on the coronary heart strings as she succumbs to darkness engulfing her.
The complete manufacturing lacks any pretension, it’s intentionally tough across the edges, comprising a black field with amps, mics, cables and circumstances . It proves that tales will be instructed with minimal staging however most impression. In conserving issues actual and avoiding mawkishness, it delivers an emotional punch.
As affecting because it was in its authentic run, an actual gem of Scottish theatre.
Runs till 26 October
Image: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
