Girl From the North Country
Theatre Royal
Ten years ago, the playwright Conor McPherson was approached by Bob Dylan’s record company to consider using the singer-songwriter’s music in a theatre production. He dismissed the idea, partly as he did not perceive Dylan to be a ‘musicals musician’. (There are those who do not believe Dylan to be a musical musician either – of course they are wrong.) McPherson, on the other hand, was surely right. It probably is possible to think of a songwriter less suited to the musical theatre treatment, but it would require more effort than I’m currently prepared to expend. One problem is that the rich, allusive nature of so many of Dylan’s best songs means that they exist as self-contained worlds of their own – to then attempt to jam a selection of them together to service an intelligible plot with a beginning, a middle and an end would be a fool’s errand.
Thankfully McPherson – after the presumably economically influenced change of heart that resulted in him accepting the job – appears to recognise this. His production, it is soon clear, steers away from traditional musical tropes and appears to aim for something more oblique and, well, Dylanesque. Thankfully it’s not quite operating in the same infuriatingly self-conscious universe as Todd Haynes’ Dylan film, ‘I’m Not There’ - in which six different actors play Dylan at different stages of his life – but, at times, it does appear to be heading in that direction.
Two things save it. Firstly, the songs themselves. The selection is bold and about as far away from a greatest hits compilation as its possible to get. The 70s and 80s are well represented. However, these songs are performed in stripped down acoustic versions on instruments that would have existed when the play is set: during the Depression of the 30s. This creates some excellent moments: Tight Connection To My Heart was a highlight for me. The album version is ferociously over-produced in a very 1986-y way. I like it a lot, but in anything close to its original form it would have capsized any musical. Slowed down and played acoustically, it takes on a strangely imperious quality, as sung by Justina Kehinde (pictured above), whose Marianne Laine is the standout performance in an excellent cast.
And, secondly, it’s the sheer quality of the production. The set and costumes, designed by Rae Smith are phenomenal, the best I’ve seen for some time. The musicianship, the dancing and the singing are so good that any misgivings I may have had about the futility of attempting to integrate such complex and varied songs into a cohesive plot are washed away.
