Theatre: Midsummer (A Play with Songs)

Date: August 18th, 2009 Author: Andrew Doyle
Category(s): Theatre: Midsummer (A Play with Songs)
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Theatre
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Midsummer (A Play with Songs)
Traverse

The sanguine refrain of Midsummer (A Play with Songs), “change is possible”, is delivered not by some wizened old sage in a caftan, but by a ticket machine in Edinburgh’s Castle Terrace car park.  “It’s funny to have a parking machine doling out philosophical advice”, remarks Bob, the play’s male character.  But this isn’t a case of the universe offering inspirational maxims by means of modern electronic devices (in the manner of the traffic sign in Steve Martin’s LA Story).  Rather, the implication is that we find inspiration through the ways in which we choose to interpret the world around us.

It’s strange that such an uplifting notion can be found at the heart of a play which is otherwise concerned with the inevitability of physical decay.  Bob shows the audience photographs of himself as a child, observing that the atoms of his youth have long since disintegrated.  But even in this most morbid of concepts, playwright David Grieg finds humour and optimism.

Midsummer is a story about the one-night-stand that doesn’t end.  Helena approaches Bob in an Edinburgh bar and invites him back to her flat.  What begins as an exercise in sexual gratification soon transforms into a heady, romantic tour of Scotland’s capital.

Cora Bissett and Matthew Pidgeon have excellent on-stage chemistry, successfully conveying all the excitement of a brand new relationship and the recklessness that comes with it.  They both play the acoustic guitar throughout, singing Gordon McIntyre’s uplifting numbers, all of which brilliantly complement the rambunctious, knockabout quality of the piece.  It may not be a particularly original concept, but when a play is this joyous it barely matters.

AD