Theatre reviews: Sunshine On Leith | In The Pipeline | Keeping Up Appearances

Published on Wednesday 8 September 2010 11:19

Sunshine On Leith **** Dundee REP In The Pipeline *** Oran Mor, Glasgow Keeping Up Appearances * Theatre Royal, Glasgow

THERE ARE TWO powerful, large-scale revivals of successful Scottish-made shows going out on tour this autumn, around the nation's main stages. Both are rooted in the experience of Scottish squaddies trying - and sometimes failing - to return to civilian life, after years at war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Both make use of the chilling yet sometimes beautiful imagery of 21st-century warfare, the men in dark camouflage gear moving in harmony, lit only by the faint blue gleam of their helmet lamps. And both are great pieces of popular theatre, rooted deep in the reality of working-class life in Scotland today.

They speak about the experience of men who once had manual work to go to, but now have to make their way in a very different world; and they use music to express the emotion that the men often find it hard to articulate.

That, though, is where the similarity between these two shows ends, for if one is the National Theatre of Scotland's legendary Black Watch, due to begin its latest tour in Glasgow next week, the other is Dundee Rep's state-of-the-art tribute musical Sunshine On Leith, a show which takes the cheesiest of current popular theatrical genres, and crafts it into something rich, memorable and true. Sunshine On Leith has the advantage, of course, of being built around the songs of The Proclaimers, those extraordinary poets of postmodern Scotland; for whatever you make of them as musicians, there's no denying the richness and subtlety of thought, and the deep sense of Scottish society and history, that goes into songs like Letter From America, Misty Blue, and What Do You Do? (When Democracy Fails You).

And it's out of these songs that writer Stephen Greenhorn, director James Brining, musical director Hilary Brooks and choreographer Lizzie Gee have crafted an extraordinary, wide-ranging and fast-moving piece of family drama, firmly and lovingly set in the urban landscape of Edinburgh and Leith.

The story covers the waterfront of 21st-century Scottish life, from forced early retirement, and the joys of working in a call-centre or the tourist trade, to the fear of commitment that plagues modern relationships, and the perennial Scottish urge to leave in search of a better life. It's often a shade sentimental and obvious, in the best soap-opera style; but it's also irresistibly moving, particularly in its portrayal of a marriage facing an unexpected crisis.And as for James Brining's production - well, at the moment, in the relatively small space of Dundee Rep, the sound balance is a mess, the music a blaring noise, the dialogue over-miked, and leading lady Ann Louise Ross temporarily indisposed, although Anne Smith makes a heroic replacement. Yet it remains one of the most vibrant, skilful, open-hearted and downright enjoyable pieces of musical staging ever created in Scotland, deploying its 15-strong cast with fantastic energy and flair, on a fast-moving and witty set by Neil Warmington.

Drafted in to replace Keith Fleming in the lead role of ex-squaddie Davy Henshall, superstar Billy Boyd gives the show everything he's got, singing beautifully, acting well, and radiating charisma; Michael Moreland is touchingly damaged as his friend Ally, John Buick as brilliant as ever as his old Dad, and Jo Freer in fine form as his restless sister Liz. And the whole show reflects Scotland back to itself with a down-to-earth honesty and vividness increasingly rare in our overmediated culture; and sends the audience out into the night lifted and exhilarated by the energy that comes from seeing your own life observed, respected, loved, and transformed into art.

The image of ordinary people rolled over and crushed by economic change also looms large in this week's Play, Pie and Pint lunchtime show, Gary Owen's In the Pipeline. Staged as part of a joint season with Paines Plough, Owen's triple monologue offers a view from Wales of the human consequences that sweep through the land when a company plans to build a massive new pipeline from the gas terminal at Milford Haven. The writing is brilliant, gripping, poetic, often sensationally powerful, as Owen explores the lives of a chubby, lonely on-train trolley steward, of an unemployed middle-aged man, and of a farmer's wife about to sell off a much-loved piece of woodland. David Horan's production, though, still looks distinctly tentative and unrehearsed, with only Rhodri Lewis as the catering man fully in command of the text; my guess is that by the time it arrives at the Traverse in a couple of weeks, this will be a four-star show, and then some.

As for Keeping Up Appearances at the Theatre Royal - well, if you want to witness the slow death of a certain kind of English theatre, you could do worse than hurry along to this absolute fright of a show. Sexist, reactionary, dull, irrelevant, poorly constructed and sometimes just plain embarrassing, this stage version of the television series is set in the local village hall, where anti-heroine Hyacinth Bucket insists on starring in a local am-dram production, to the horror of all concerned.

The show wins one star thanks to the conspicuous gallantry of leading actress Rachell Bell, who is charged with imitating the inimitable Patricia Routledge, star of the television series, and makes a witty job of it.But the kind of hat-wearing, middle-aged village termagant she portrays just doesn't exist any more, outside the fevered imaginations of male octogenarians; and it's surely time, as the 21st century rolls on, to let poor Hyacinth finally rest in peace.

lSunshine On Leith is at Dundee Rep until 18 September, at Eden Court, Inverness, 21-25 September, at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, 12-16 October, and on tour until November. In the Pipeline is at Oran Mor, Glasgow, until Saturday, and at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 28 September to 1 October. Keeping Up Appearances is at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, until Saturday.