Sunshine on Leith

Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Reviewed by Mark Brown

FIRST, a confession. When I first reviewed Stephen Greenhorn’s Proclaimers musical Sunshine on Leith (at its world premiere at the Dundee Rep theatre back in 2007) I wasn’t particularly impressed.

I thought that the stories of Ally and Davy (recently returned to Edinburgh after leaving the Army), their girlfriends (Davy’s sister Liz and her pal Yvonne, both nurses) and Davy’s parents (Jean and Rab) were (like The Proclaimers’ songs themselves) too sentimental. I also found Greenhorn’s play to be somewhat predictable and not a patch on his finest stage work Passing Places.

Which isn’t to say that I didn’t think it would be a success. It was obvious from that Tayside debut that audience members who liked the Reid brothers’ songs and/or soap operas (such as Greenhorn’s televisual baby River City) were going to love this stage musical.

READ MORE: Scots composer gives Love Actually film score some fresh love

So it has proved to be. Awards, a film version and numerous stage productions have followed, including this Pitlochry Festival Theatre (PFT) revival.

First staged at the “theatre in the hills” in the summer of last year, director Elizabeth Newman’s largely re-cast production returns for an unlikely (but, as Wednesday afternoon’s enraptured audience suggests, very welcome) winter run. In fairness, one can see the appeal both of Greenhorn’s script and Newman’s rendering of it.

The plotlines (which include strained romances, life crises and no little amount of heartbreak) overflows with incident and emotion. The band, which includes a number of excellent actor-musicians and singer-musicians, is nicely integrated into the action (with a slide-guitar providing an interesting addition to the instrumentation).

It may be written to a soap opera-style formula, but this musical is immaculately constructed around such famous Proclaimers toe-tappers as I’m On My Way and 500 Miles. Greenhorn’s locations (from a family kitchen, to pubs and a hospital ward) offer a full sweep of soap settings.

In fact, one bar scene is bedecked in the green and white of Craig and Charlie Reid’s favourites, Hibernian Football Club (although, one suspect that Hibs fans aren’t exactly PFT’s core demographic).

Newman has assembled a universally strong cast, with the excellent Alyson Orr (Jean) and Keith McPherson (Rab) reprising their roles in the original 2022 production. The rest of the impressive cast are new to the show, with the gloriously voiced Sinead Kennedy an absolute standout (already an experienced musical theatre performer, she is, surely, destined to see her name in lights).  

READ MORE: Scottish athlete Eilish McColgan to tell her story in BBC documentary

As it was last year, Orr’s rendering of the titular hit song (and Hibs anthem) Sunshine on Leith is a beautifully delivered showstopper that would bring a tear to the eye of even the most resolute Hearts supporter.

The set (an unlovely band podium with a miniature model Edinburgh perched irritatingly above it) continues to disappoint, and the decision to remove the guns (and much of the drama) from the opening war scene is a mistake.

These shortcomings aside, however, this revival is a well paced, nicely performed return of an undoubted crowd pleaser.