It’s the second night in a row that a show opened in London having transferred from the Edinburgh Fringe. While last night’s couldn’t continue beyond the first act (a water leak backstage halted proceedings), Dundee Rep’s No Love Songs delivers a flood of emotions for its eager audience at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant.
Those familiar with Dundonian band The View will also know it’s lead singer, Kyle Falconer, who has written the songs for this surprisingly touching piece of gig theatre. The music actually comes from his album, No Love Songs For Laura, though here they’re stripped back to allow enough focus on the characters.
The Laura in the album title is Laura Wilde, who provides the book, along with Johnny McKnight, for No Love Songs. It’s a two hander which sees Lana move to Dundee, from a relatively small town to study fashion. While clubbing one night she meets Jessie and spends the night with him.
Fast forward and Lana is pregnant, and like much of this show, the scene in which she gives birth is an unflinching look at the reality of labour. Jessie, a musician, is given the chance to tour America. With both believing this is an opportunity to make the money that’s needed to get them out of their top floor flat, Lana agrees to be a stay at home mum.
“I don’t love being a mum like the others do” she says having failed to make friends at a parent and baby group, and with a subtle change in Grant Anderson’s striking lighting design we witness Lana grapple with the torment of post-natal depression.
Jessie, on the other side of the world, is oblivious to this suffering, and directors Andrew Parton and Tashi Gore effectively get this across in the staging. The storytelling is superb, and Lana’s pain is amplified through the move from upbeat duets to slower solo numbers.
The songs are really beautiful, and performed with heartfelt emotion. Gavin Whitworth (musical director and arranger) plays piano on stage, usually accompanied by John McLarnon, as Jessie, on Guitar. But it feels like there’s a much larger band hiding somewhere back stage, the music is both moving and powerful, giving No Love Songs a magical quality.
Anna Russell-Martin is captivating as Lana, transitioning through the seventy five minute run time from outwardly confident student to struggling first time mum. You can see the change manifest itself physically in Rusell-Martin’s beguiling performance, while John McLarnon’s silky vocals bring a calmness to the trauma.
This is not an easy subject to tackle on stage, especially in musical form, but the cast and creatives succeed in making No Love Songs an exceptional watch, and a masterful combination of powerful storytelling and gig theatre.
No Love Songs is at Southwark Playhouse Elephant until 15th June
