Sunshine on Leith

Having spent a pleasant Saturday afternoon in Regent’s Park at a performance of the almost forgotten “Brigadoon” a few weeks ago, I am beginning to think that the Scots are taking over the world of musical theatre.  “Sunshine”, of course, is a much more recent show, almost 20 years old but at least it’s from this century, something of a vehicle for a number of songs by the Scottish twins who form the band the Proclaimers.  To write it off as no more than one of those juke box musicals, however, would be a mistake as the whole thing is a thoroughly entertaining affair, with a good story which addresses a few issues still valid today as well as the importance of relationships inside and outside of the family.  

We begin in Afghanistan where friends Davy and Ally are on their final tour of duty before returning to their homes in Edinburgh and, in Ally’s case, a reunion with his girlfriend, Liz, who is Davy’s sister.  It’s not long before Davy finds friendship with one of Liz’s nursing colleagues, Yvonne, whilst his parents, Jean and Rab, are about to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.   What might seem relatively happy arrangements are thrown into turmoil when Rab meets an illegitimate daughter from a brief extra-marital fling, Eilidh, and, discovering this by accident at the anniversary party, Jean is devastated.  Rab’s subsequent heart attack causes her to reconsider her initial response so that, in spite of everything, the couple stay together.  Liz, dissatisfied with pay and conditions in nursing, rejects Ally’s marriage proposal and takes up the offer of work in Florida, whilst Ally sees a future back in the forces.  The future of Davy and Yvonne, whilst still somewhat uncertain, seems promising, leading to perhaps the most famous song, the finale “I’m going to be (500 miles)”, the whole cast joining in from their respective locations.              

In an intimate venue such as this every facial expression, every detail in conversations with others is easily detected by the audience but the principals were more than equal to the task. Lines were delivered in such a natural way that it was hard to believe they originated on a page and the Scottish accent, often said to be the most difficult to master and maintain, seemed to cause no difficulties here.  The parts of the two young ex-Army friends were well played by William Thirlaway (Davy) and Luke Bailey (Ally) as were those of their respective girlfriends, Claudia Denham (Liz) and Lottie McMillan (Yvonne).  All four gave convincing performances as young people attempting to cope with relationships and what life threw at them.   Rowenna Naylor impressed as Jean, maternal in conversations with her son and daughter whilst conveying all the anger and disgust you would expect when learning of her husband’s infidelity.  As the unfortunate Rab, Chris Wall gave an excellent performance and his initial meeting with the daughter he did not know he had was especially moving. Sophie McCudden made the most of this fairly small role, although I think I saw her supporting the ensemble in other scenes. Other parts, sometimes nursing or cleaning colleagues, or trainee call-handlers or Hibs fans were well played by members of the ensemble and particular credit must go to  Em Sackville-Bryant, sporting a surgical boot following a foot operation. To say she “soldiered on” would not be an inappropriate expression considering the situation in which the opening scene is set.

This is a difficult show with no less than 40 scenes in 31 different locations, sometimes more than one at a time (in the final scene, the 500 miles song, for instance) in the sort of split-scene or cuts from one to another which cause no problem to film-makers.  The director, cast and stage crew coped well with all of this, subtle changes in the otherwise fairly minimal set indicating the different venues. The whole thing was well supported by a four-piece band at the rear of the stage, the Musical Director on keyboard occasionally taking up her violin.

Common to all the scenes, whether the family kitchen, pub or hospital was a clock which had apparently stopped at something like 4.51.  Could the time not have been put forward or back during a scene change or, at least, at the interval? Then the penny dropped; it’s a plug for the next show: “Nine to Five”.  Clever!                                                    

        

 

 

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