Anna Burnside reviews a well-intentioned but flawed theatrical memoir.
‘Smalltown Boy’, ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, ‘True Colours’, ‘Like a Prayer’ … the bangers of the 1980s were the soundtrack to Ben Harrison’s youth. So, it makes sense to set this theatrical memoir to some of the best tunes of that music-rich era, using Morrissey and Tim Buckley’s lyrics to convey the angst and excitement of teenage fumbles on Carlsberg-soaked carpets.
Harrison, the co-artistic director of Grid Iron, grew up in Norfolk. An early crush preferred her pony to young, blackheady Ben. Then, at age 16, he attracted the attention of his co-star in the local am-dram production. She had bright red hair, a Joe Orton leather coat and was (gasp!) 21.
All these rites of passage - watching Betty Blue for the first time, draping a hammer and sickle flag over a statue of Lord Nelson - are accompanied by the Cocteau Twins, the Cure and the Smiths.
Here the songs are reinterpreted by Harrison’s long-time collaborator David Paul Jones. His keyboard and vocals are augmented by the lush cellist Justyna Jablonska.
Audiences of a certain age will always enjoy hearing about the difficulty of unbuttoning 501s to Cyndi Lauper and forgive the show’s structural weaknesses. But this could have gone beyond an enjoyable nostalgia-fest if Harrison’s delivery was less lumpy and Jones’s version of every song had not been so over-wrought.
Every number was wrung clean of emotion and delivered through a screwed-up face. Harrison’s version of the 1980s forgets that the Thatcherism and sexual frustration sat alongside dancing and joy.
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’s run at the Tron has completed. It is at Summerhall (September 23-25) and at Findhorn Bay Festival (September 28).
Photo by Pete Dibdin.
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