Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Four stars
Something momentous happened at the Citizens Theatre over the weekend. First of all, the official opening night of Frances Poet and Ricky Ross’s brand new play on Friday following a couple of preview performances was the first time the Gorbals based theatre had opened its doors to a first night audience in seven years, as the international institution received a major makeover. The results of this are as plain to see in the spacious new foyer area as they are in the auditorium, which both honours the ghosts of Citizens past even as it remakes and remodels the space for the future.
Secondly, Poet and Ross’s play itself brings a heartbreakingly recent tragedy to the stage in hugely ambitious fashion. Through a mix of multiple narrative threads, song, and the massed talents of a remarkable acting company, it honours those who lived and died through the experience with a dramatic gift full of heart and soul.
The night Pan Am flight 103 travelling from Frankfurt To Detroit exploded over Lockerbie after a bomb killed all 259 passengers and crew on board along with eleven local people on the ground in December 1988 has already garnered two TV dramas this year.
Poet and Ross have based their own play on interviews with those in both Lockerbie and America who were changed forever by what happened. The result in Dominic Hill’s production is an emotionally driven patchwork of criss-crossing lives that tells a remarkable story of how very different communities from opposite sides of the world transcended their tumultuous losses in order to grieve and rebuild as one.
A policeman attempts to tell his teenage daughter the story of what happened when he arrived on the scene of the disaster as he unlocks his long buried trauma. Parents and partners attempt to come to terms with what happened, as everyday lives are shattered across continents. Monuments are made. Memories are cherished. These are true stories, brought home with care.
Through a moving scene in the second act as those in Lockerbie lovingly sift through the belongings of those killed before returning them to their families in America, we also get glimpses of those whose futures were so cruelly robbed from them, and wonder who they might have become.
With more than twenty people on stage, Hill navigates each bitesize scene with skilful dexterity on Tom Piper’s open plan set. The exemplary cast of fourteen include Ewan Donald, Blythe Duff, Holly Howden Gilchrist, Barrie Hunter, Robert Jack, Hilary Maclean and Beth Marshall. Along with Simon Donaldson, Lewis Fleming, Nicholas Marshall, Jayne McKenna, Jo Servi, Naomi Stirrat and Mandi Symonds, they flit between multiple parts with a versatility aided by Jessica Worrall’s carefully nuanced costumes.
Ross’s songs are sung by the cast and played live with exquisite downbeat understatement by a five-piece chamber pop ensemble led by musical director Gavin Whitworth. As mournful and melancholy as the songs are, they are loaded with little flourishes of something resembling salvation.
Presented by the Citz in association with the National Theatre of Scotland at a time when the futility of politically motivated violence becomes starker by the day, the play’s message of hope over hate couldn’t be clearer. What remains in this big production is an act of collective love in itself that becomes a living memorial to those it pays tribute to, and who, amidst all the turmoil that surrounds their stories, should never be forgotten.
The Herald, September 15th 2025
Ends
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