The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle, Dundee review - 'a surprisingly radical entertainment, beautifully delivered'

Although these two shows are very different, they are both perfectly tailored for their target audiences, writes Joyce McMillan

The Tommy Burns Story, King’s Theatre, Glasgow ****

The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle, Dundee University Botanical Gardens, Dundee ****

In Scotland this week, two summer shows that will probably never be garlanded with awards, or viewed as examples of high art; and yet both serve their chosen audience so perfectly that it’s both moving and uplifting to watch them work their magic.

Doctor Dolittle PIC: Illyria Theatre Company

The Tommy Burns Story, at the King’s in Glasgow, is a tribute show to the great and much-mourned Celtic player and manager, put together by executive producer Michael Burns (Tommy’s son), with writer David Carswell and director Felix O’Brien. Tommy Burns died in 2008, aged only 51, of the skin cancer melanoma; and the show aims both to raise funds for the Celtic FC Foundation, and to increase awareness of melanoma, which can be particularly dangerous to fair-skinned Scots such as Tommy.

Yet despite a second half that dwells at length on Burns’s final illness – on the courage with which he faced it, and the strong religious faith that supported him – there is also much more to Tommy’s story than its tragic final act; and David Carswell’s script weaves together scenes from Tommy’s life – acted out by a fine and versatile cast of five – with running commentary from a chorus of two or three fictional fans, who take us through the triumphs an agonies of the big matches that punctuated Tommy’s career.

There are also filmed interviews with Tommy’s family and friends, and plenty of jokes designed to tickle the Celtic tribe. Naturally enough, the tone is uncritical, with only Tommy’s widow Rosemary – filmed years before her death, earlier this month – offering a few wry insights into the pressures created by Tommy’s passionate commitment to his work, and his total lack of domestic skills.

Yet with Burns’s joyful young face beaming at us from the souvenir programme cover – the red hair, the freckles, the humorous twinkle in the eyes, the kindly expression – it’s impossible not to be drawn into this collective act of celebration and mourning for a much-loved and rightly admired figure in Scotland’s footballing history; and in celebrating a life that seems always to have been based on love – for his game, for his family, for friends and colleagues from both sides of Glasgow’s great footballing divide, and finally for the god whom Tommy Burns believed was guiding him, to the end.

The Tommy Burns Story

The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle, by complete contrast, is a very English show indeed; the latest family entertainment from the tireless Illyria Theatre, currently on tour across the UK with no fewer than four different outdoor summer productions.

Yet like the Tommy Burns Story, Illyria’s Doctor Dolittle is perfectly tailored for its audience, with children aged 5-10, and their accompanying adults, probably best suited to its jolly tale of adventure, and of a life dedicated not only to talking to the animals, but to saving them from all the forms of threat and exploitation they often face.

Adapted and directed by Illyria’s founder Oliver Gray – who has also, with musician Ben Wiles, written the show’s impressive playlist of new songs – the show is presented by a memorably talented cast of five, who not only act, sing and zip around the stage with great deftness, but also act as puppeteers to the wonderful puppet-animal characters who join the humans on stage. And what with poignant songs reflecting the animals suffering, funny songs about their love for cake, and cheeky songs ruthlessly listing the crises of the outgoing Tory government, this faithful version of Hugh Lofting’s original story emerges both as a surprisingly radical entertainment, beautifully delivered; and as two hours of pure fun, presented in some of the loveliest places in Scotland.

The Tommy Burns Story is at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, until 20 July. The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle is on tour, with upcoming dates in St Andrews, Forres, Ellon, Banchory and Rothesay. For details of all Illyria touring shows, see www.illyria.co.uk