Writer and Director – Conor McPherson
Music and Lyrics – Bob Dylan
When writer/director Conor McPherson received Bob Dylan’s blessing for his two-page treatment of The Girl From The North Country, he was handed the complete Dylan catalogue—some 60 albums’ worth of material to sift through. The challenge wasn’t finding hits but discovering which songs would best serve his story’s narrative and emotional needs.
Technically a jukebox musical, the label does McPherson’s work a disservice. While most jukebox shows rely on greatest hits for easy recognition, here the focus stays firmly on storytelling. The familiar songs appear fleetingly, almost as afterthoughts, while the overall score delivers genuine impact through careful curation.
Set in Depression-era Duluth, Minnesota, the story centres on a boarding house during a harsh winter in 1934. Nick Laine (Colin Connor) runs the establishment with his adopted daughter Marianne (Justina Kehinde), while his wife Elizabeth (Katie Brayben) struggles with a degenerative mental condition. Their son Gene (Colin Bates) completes the family—a would-be poet whom others see as an unemployed wastrel.
The boarding house becomes a microcosm of Depression-era America, with residents and transient guests each carrying hidden burdens beneath their public facades. Every character suffers in their own way, creating a soap opera contained within four walls as various storylines interweave through circumstance.
Dylan’s songs, arranged masterfully by Simon Hale, provide the production’s emotional backbone. Stripped back and steeped in bluegrass tradition, these reworkings reveal an almost ethereal quality that brings fresh focus to Dylan’s brilliant lyricism and timeless musicality. The arrangements feel both familiar and revelatory.
McPherson’s direction, combined with Rae Smith’s stunningly inventive set design, creates a visual feast. Scenes unfold cinematically, drawing attention to all corners of the stage and immersing audiences within the boarding house’s lived-in atmosphere.
Yet despite these considerable strengths, the narrative struggles to unify its elements. There’s enough emotional angst and brooding melancholy to keep therapists busy for years, but somehow it fails to resonate deeply. The multiple storylines capture the transient nature of boarding house life but don’t allow sufficient time to build genuine audience connection. We find ourselves sympathising with characters rather than truly empathising with their struggles.
The Girl From The North Country succeeds as a showcase for Dylan’s musical genius and McPherson’s theatrical vision, but falls short of the emotional impact its ambitious premise promises. It’s a beautiful, technically accomplished production that keeps you at arm’s length when it should be drawing you close.
Runs until 23 August 2025
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