Beth Morton

Pushin’ Thirty

19/03/24

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

It’s 2011 and Eilidh (Taylor Dyson) and Scott (Sam James Smith) have just won their school talent show with a brand new song. Like plenty of other teens, they dream of pop stardom, but they live in Dundee, not a place renowned for its entertainment opportunities. Scott impulsively announces they should pack their bags and head for London, where fame surely awaits them – but Eilidh is reluctant to leave while her mum is ill, so Scott grabs his guitar and jumps aboard the Megabus without her.

Now it’s 2023 and they’re both fast approaching the dreaded three-o. Eilidh is living with her widowed dad and working at a local bakery. The two former friends haven’t exchanged so much as a word over the passing years, not even a Facebook post. When Scott returns out of the blue, his dreams of stardom in tatters, Eilidh is somewhat nonplussed to learn that he wants to pick up where they left off…

The latest addition to the A Play, A Pie and A Pint season, Pushin’ Thirty by Taylor Dyson and Calum Kelly is a gentle, whimsical tale about missed opportunities and the enduring importance of friendship. It’s a deceptively simple piece, laying bare the types of hurts and insecurities we so often bury. Anchored around two vivacious performances from Dyson and James Smith, this is compellingly told, the actors inhabiting their roles with ease so that we totally believe they really are old pals. There’s a steady stream of witty banter (never ask Scott why he doesn’t sing!) interspersed with some memorable songs from Dundee-based company, Elfie Picket. Beth Morton’s direction is sprightly: the pace never flags and the music is seamlessly incorporated.

Anyone who has ever picked up a guitar and dreamed of making it big will identify with this story. By my reckoning, that covers most of the people I know – and I’m sure they’d all enjoy this funny, heartwarming production.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Babs

14/03/23

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

This week’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint is the pithily titled Babs by Morna Young. We’ve enjoyed Young’s work before – Lost at Sea and Aye, Elvis are both excellent examples of Scottish theatre – so we arrive at the Traverse this Tuesday lunch time with high expectations. The set, by Gemma Patchett and Jonny Scott, doesn’t give much away: there are a few fir trees, some pipes, a couple of skulls and a ukelele – an eclectic mix, promising something unusual.

We’re not disappointed.

Bethany Tennick plays Lisa, a troubled young quine from Aberdeen, who lives for her annual holiday with her best pal, Shelley. Apart from that, all Lisa has is her guitar, her tunes and a truckload of attitude. So when Shelley decides she’d rather go away with her new boyfriend, Gareth, Lisa is raging. How dare Shelley ditch her? Desperate and drunk, she signs up for a solo retreat, which turns out to be life-changing, because ‘Babs’, the mysterious host, is none other than Baba Yaga – she of the iron teeth and chicken-legged house… Why has she invited Lisa here?

Young’s decision to write the piece in Doric dialect gives it an urgent authenticity, underscoring Lisa’s need to be true to herself, even as she searches for a new identity. She is a bold, in-your-face character, and Tennick imbues her with such spark and vim that it’s impossible not to warm to her, even when she’s being completely unreasonable. The songs (composed by Tennick) add an extra dimension, showing us that Lisa has the potential to be more than ‘a sheep’, even if she can’t yet see it herself. The plaintive ode to her mother is especially emotive.

Despite its dark themes, Babs is essentially a comedy, and I spend much of the fifty-minute running time laughing at Lisa’s disproportionate outrage, or at her renditions of the other characters who populate the tale. Director Beth Morton keeps the pace snappy, and every joke lands well with the audience.

I’m fair-tricket to say this is another winner from 2023’s first PPP season.

4.2 stars

Susan Singfield