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My Doric Diary

The Studio, Edinburgh
Four stars 

Who would be a sixteen-year-old girl on Hogmanay, stuck in a small Aberdeenshire town the day before you see in the new year with a birthday? The chance of partying hard is next to non existent, especially if your over protective Granny has anything to do with it. Such is the lot of Daisy, our seemingly everyday teenage heroine in this pocket-sized but power-balladtastic mini jukebox musical by Katie Barnett and James Siggens, aka the tellingly named AyeTunes! company. 

Then again, all it takes is a clap of thunder and an old cassette deck for things to take a turn for the weird, and suddenly we’re not in Fraserburgh anymore. Certainly not as Daisy knows it, anyway, as the Voice of Doric Past transports her to the night before her birth when her mother was the star turn at the leisure centre do before everything went horribly wrong.  

What follows is a tender and funny riff on Daisy’s Back to the Future style adventure that has hidden depths beyond the upfront silliness of Barnet’s initial delivery as Daisy. Backed up by Scott Cunningham on guitar and Andy Manning on keyboards, Barnett flits between adolescent wisecracks and a slow burning pathos as Daisy’s growing pains take her well beyond Fraserburgh Leisure Centre. Barnet’s singing voice too has a lovely versatility in terms of tone and timbre. 

Douglas Irvine’s original production was first seen at Oran Mor, Glasgow as part of the venue’s A Play, a Pie and a Pint lunchtime theatre season. This touring revival is presented in partnership with Aberdeen Performing Arts, and plays in assorted venues across Scotland until the end of October.  

Played out on Fraser Lappin’s no frills set, Barnett, Siggens and co’s creation 
showcases a refreshingly upfront form of cabaret theatre that puts a Doric spin on old pop anthems before Daisy finds her way home. 


The Herald, October 6th 2023

 

ends

 

 

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