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A Giant on the Bridge

The Studio, Edinburgh

Four stars 

 

Liam Hurley and Jo Mango’s musical meditation on the pains of confinement first appeared in 2024. Its presentation by some of Scotland’s leading songwriters of work created with those in the prison system about to be released showcased a poignant fusion of storytelling and folk infused chamber pop. Two years on, and Hurley and Mango’s production remains a moving and powerful construction that brings dignity and nuance to a difficult subject. 

 

What is effectively a song cycle born out of a series of workshops with prisoners sets up a series of criss-crossing narratives knitted either side of a fairytale about a giant without a heart. This see Louis Abbot of Admiral Fallow play a workshop leader not unlike himself going into prisons, while Mango plays a mediator who writes letters for prisoners inbetween dealing with her own stresses. Kim Grant, aka Raveloe, tells the giant’s tale with an engaging performative largesse. At the show’s heart is the  story of D, brought to life by Dave Hook, aka Solareye, who is about to be reunited with his sister June, played by Jill O’Sullivan, and his daughter Faye, who has been in June’s care. 

 

Hurley and Mango’s show developed out of Distant Voices: Coming Home, a four year research project set up by criminal justice based arts organisation Vox Liminis and assorted university partners. The result as presented by KT Producing is pulsed by compassionate warmth that feeds into the songs that illustrate the situations being played out.

 

Clare Halleran’s set of homely rugs lends a further cosiness to things in a show presented in a theatrical style that is truly radical. The fact that it is performed by musicians rather than actors seems important, in that it more resembles a song circle than old school naturalism. This gives the air of a genuinely democratic and collective approach. Above all, no one ever pretends that they are not pretending. 

 

The songs themselves would stand up by themselves in all their fragility and understated craft. If there isn’t already a soundtrack album out there of these and other songs composed during the workshops, now may be the time to compile one. For the unseen array of co-writers on such an opus, it might help  them cross the bridge of their own towards a sense of freedom.


The Herald, March 16th 2026

 

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