Songs: Kyle Falconer
Book: Laura Wilde and Johnny McKnight
Directors: Andrew Panton and Tashi Gore
This is gig theatre at its purest: two singers, one of whom also plays guitar, and a musician. The stage is almost bare, and the lights, although effective, are simple. Telling the story of a woman’s post-natal depression, No Love Songs, a production by Dundee Rep, takes the audience on an emotional ride. Like the set, this musical is raw.
The songs are pretty good, too, especially the opener, Stress Ball, which finds Lana at a club one night soon after she arrives in Dundee to go to art college. She catches the eye of Jessie, the lead singer of the band playing in the club, and it’s love at first sight. The bouncy poppy song is perfect for such a meeting.
Suddenly, we are a year or so ahead, and Lana is having a baby. She and Jessie worry if they will be good parents and the melancholic number Monsters captures these fears nicely. But as Lana sinks into depression when Jessie tours America with his band, the story and the songs become darker.
Anna Russell-Martin and John McLarnon sing their songs well, ensuring that they remain in character while they perform them. Their voices break and crack under their emotions; some lines are unfinished, replaced with tears. Grant Anderson’s lights throw the stage into darkness. Lana’s isolation is keenly felt, and the songs are heartbreakingly sad.
Playing in Southwark Playhouse Elephant, there are, however, problems with sightlines, especially for those sitting in the side sections where too often only the back of Russell-Martin can be seen. If only the action could be shifted slightly to the back of the stage then perhaps these issues could be sorted.
The music is provided by Gavin Whitworth who has a nominal role as Jessie’s bandmate. He doesn’t speak, but when he walks offstage at a critical moment in the story his absence explicitly symbolises Lana’s separation from the world. Kyle Falconer’s songs are strong and varied, with the last song being particularly memorable. They sound a little like those by The Shires if the UK country duo were rockier.
No Love Songs is a relatively short piece, running at 75 minutes, and while it needn’t be any longer, the end feels rushed and implausible, especially when the couple’s relationship has been so vividly and realistically explored. Lana acknowledges the audience’s response to the last scene by saying that it feels like a ’90s romcom. But despite, the sentimental finish, it’s exactly what we want.
Runs until 15 June 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Raw Gig Theatre
