‘Girl From the North Country’, written and directed by Irish playwright Conor McPherson, is a phenomenal character-driven dive into American Depression-era society, amplified by four decades of music and lyrics of Bob Dylan.
With a wild wind blowing through the November evening, the 1000-strong audience filed into Plymouth’s Theatre Royal on opening night of the play, which is set in the autumn of 1934 in Duluth Minnesota, the birthplace of Dylan. This play is not a musical biography of the iconic singer-songwriter, however, instead the musicians and cast tell the story of the Laine family, their boarding house and their borders through twenty songs.
Caught between the Great Depression and World War II, in a city on the edge of Lake Superior and a midwestern US state that borders Canada, the landscape is well-presented through set backdrops that reflect the emotional turmoil and tension of characters affected by race, gender and the economy; the era is represented through authentic instruments and the gospel sound of the 1930s.
Patriarch Nick, played by Graham Kent, owns the stage as a man struggling financially and emotionally, while wife Elizabeth, played by Frances McNamee, is a show-stealing physical and verbal representation of a character with no filter. Her dementia provides some of the most lucid insights in the play, from a woman who nineteen years ago adopted a black baby, now the grown Marianne (Frankie Hart), herself about to become a mother. Son Gene (Gregor Milne), a struggling poet with a bar-based struggle with standing up through most of the play, reminded me of an early Dylan wrestling with writing intentions. How long can a writer stave off a real job during a financial crisis?
‘Girl From The North Country’ is a play of secrets and connections between the boarders who reside with the family at Laine’s boarding house, including newcomers Joe Scott (Joshua C Jackson) and Reverend Marlowe (Eli James), who arrive in the middle of the night. Are they all that they seem? Is anyone? Throughout the play, it felt like the characters were at the crossroads of literature and history, tackling the subjects of love and duty in their search for a future. Imagine Steinbeck’s Lenny and George meeting Twain’s witty Tom Sawyer at a guest house out of necessity, not luxury, and listening to Ella Fitzgerald sing.
Dylan’s music is beautifully performed by the cast and musicians throughout the play, from the opening bars of ‘Sign On The Window’, via the original ‘Make You Feel My Love’ (yes, recorded by Adele) to the stunning ‘Forever Young’ closure. This is a must-see play for any fan of music, history and theatre. The audience was pin-dropping silent throughout the two hours and fifteen minutes of performance and gave a standing ovation and rapturous applause at the end.
‘Girl From The North Country’ is on in The Lyric at Plymouth’s Theatre Royal until 5th November before continuing on the UK tour.
Cast: Graham Kent, Frances McNamee, Frankie Hart, Gregor Milne, Maria Omakinwa, Joshua C Jackson, Eli James, Teddy Kempner, Chris McHallem, James Staddon, Rebecca Thornhill, Ross Carswell, Director: Conor McPherson Writers: Conor McPherson, Bob Dylan Theatre: Theatre Royal, Plymouth Running time: 150 minutes (including interval) Dates: 1st – 5th November 2022 Book now
