Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Three Stars When the massed ranks of Scottish Brass champions the Whitburn Band join forces at the end of Lau accordionist and guitarist Martin Green’s new play, alternating with the Fife based Kingdom Brass, the sound they make together is one of unity laced with a bittersweet mix of sadness and euphoria. As the culmination of a show about working class experience in a former mining town decimated by the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike, it is a finale that speaks volumes about everything that went before. This is embodied by the seventeen-year-old firebrand who gives Green’s play its title. Keli’s everyday life may be chaos as she tends to her mum inbetween shifts at the supermarket and a failing college course, but when she plays her tenor horn with the local brass band she comes alive. Keli’s musical skills are recognised by bandleader Brian, who promotes her to soloist for a competition at the Royal Albert Hall. While Keli makes it t...
An archive of arts writing by Neil Cooper. Effete No Obstacle.