The only person with any hope of a successful life is Eve, played by Katherine Draper, who gets out of town in an early scene. It’s testament to Kent’s technical skill in creating empathy that this upsets us so much. Many will have seen an adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath in this very theatre. I sensed a collective shudder from the Chichester audience (always well versed in history) as we are told that Nick intends to head south to Oklahoma, right into the Dust Bowl and the desperate migrants created by John Steinbeck who are heading the other way. Kent’s character can’t bring himself to turf out impoverished boarders, goes beyond the line of duty in caring for Elizabeth and tries to be the cement for a community that we all know will crumble. Graham Kent (another supporting cast member stepping up) anchors the play as Nick who is the protagonist but also a victim of circumstance and his generosity to others. These people need a mature welfare state not the platitudes of FDR’s fireside chats. Stewart’s perceptive treatment of a crucial speech in which the medic describes how his senses have heightened as he returns to sobriety is a highlight. The first understudy is Neil Stewart as Dr Walker, the town physician, who is a reformed opium addict. ![]() ![]() Two principals were absent on the night I attended, and I was thrilled to see ensemble members excel when they were promoted to lead roles. (Neil Stewart replaced Chris McHallem in performance reviewed here.) McNamee underlines this by throwing her voice slightly in the dialogue like a ventriloquist speaking as their puppet. No longer in control of herself, she blurts out the most intimate and shocking things she knows about the townspeople. Meanwhile, her character totters between sanity and psychosis. The dialogue propels us logically into each song, nowhere more vividly than when Frances McNamee as Elizabeth, the demented wife of the hotel proprietor, gives us a throaty “Like a Rolling Stone” in which she stresses the cynicism inherent in the lyrics. Just about everybody is broken and there are multiple examples of alcohol and drug misuse.ĭirection is by McPherson himself and while it may be the music that is most memorable, the play is in no way slight or merely a vehicle for the songs. It is 1934 (seven years before Dylan’s birth) and the Great Depression is at its height. The action centres on a tatty boarding house in Duluth, Minnesota, a hardscrabble port town on Lake Superior where Dylan was born. ![]() It was Dylan who made the first tentative suggestion that McPherson might want to use his songs as base material. And yet the direction of the original enquiry speaks volumes for Dylan and his openness to collaboration of all kinds. It should be remembered that McPherson is an Olivier winner ( The Weir 1999) and regarded by good judges as among the best playwrights of his generation. There has been a touring production to Toronto, Sydney and Auckland, and a new touring version began in Dublin last year. After premiering at the Old Vic in 2017, it has had runs in New York and a West End revival. ![]() Girl from the North Country is a play by Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan.
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