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ED2013 4/5 Reviews ED2013 Theatre Reviews
I’m With The Band (Traverse & Wales Millennium Centre)
By Gavin Leech | Published on Wednesday 14 August 2013
Entertaining rock-musical allegory for the state of the UK. A big stadium Britpop band are in the process of breaking up. They’re all fairly awful – England’s a control freak, Scotland a bitter hothead, Wales a neurotic lad, Northern Ireland an abusive alcoholic. (The funniest song’s about Ireland and Ulster’s rough sex life.) It suffers slightly because fictional music has to work as both music and narrative unit – so songs like England’s ‘awful’, revolt-inspiring ‘Hell is an English Garden’ can’t live up to itself. But it’s miraculous that they manage the one 80min extended metaphor so lightly. (Note the EU’s appearance as Record Label.) After an excellent job of avoiding one-sided polemic, they end on a song called ‘The Future’.
Traverse Theatre, until 25th Aug, times vary.
tw rating 4/5 | [Gavin Leech]
