HOW does a hit musical theatre production evolve, featuring the autobiographical songs of a once mind-torn indie musician and tales of love, loss – and post-natal depression?
Well, the beginnings of this searing new play, No Love Songs, involve a Still Game star, a River City writer and some deep-rooted honesty.
The musical theatre piece set to run at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe tells the (slightly fictionalised) story of a couple, Lana and Jessie, as they come to terms with parenthood, and challenges such as depression.
But the content is very much an insight into the world of The View frontman Kyle Falconer and his partner, Laura Wilde. Wilde began writing of their relationship when the couple were living in America, but the pandemic and subsequent chaos brought them back to Dundee.
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Meanwhile, Falconer’s album, No Love Songs for Laura, dealt with addiction and redemption, fatherhood and loss. So, the couple had a story. And songs. But what to do with it? “I got in touch with Ford Kiernan from Still Game, who is a friend of mine,” says Falconer. “And he came through to Dundee and gave me some advice. He said to get in touch with Andrew Panton from Dundee Rep Theatre.”
Andrew Panton put wheels in motion and Johnny McKnight, the acclaimed Scottish playwright and River City writer, was attached to the project. The Dundee Rep team then worked over the course of a year to develop the storyline and seamlessly blend in the songs.
Kyle Falconer believed the story had to be a true account of the couple’s trials and travails. “We thought, ‘Let’s just be honest’. And Andrew had a tear in his eye when I first showed him it – he said it was really striking. The music fits perfectly with it.”
The indie performer and father-of-three has long been noted for his unbridled honesty. He has talked about losing his parents early in life. He has spoken of his one-time disconnect with his hometown, Dundee.
And he has opened up about his troubled personal life, his battle with alcoholism and drugs and the issues this created, including denying the band’s hopes of touring North America. “For years I had this reputation, it was kind of hard to get rid of it so I thought I might as well be what just about everyone thinks I am,” he once declared.
The musician added: “In 2006 there was this rock and roll scene where nobody would wash or sleep, it was pretty mad. I found it hard to get out of that childish behaviour. I was just a mess and partying all the time as I had no place to go and no purpose in life. I was just waiting for the next tour.
“I lost my parents when I was younger, I didn’t have anyone to answer to and no-one to help or protect.”
The dramatic change in the life of Kyle Falconer came about when his daughter Wylde was born in April 2017. “I started to think that on the day she was born, it was time to stop being a nugget.”
The musician took off to Thailand to rehab and cleaned up his act. The responsibility, the enormity of family, brought about a major refocus. The couple now have three children, and the challenges – and the wonders – that family has created have offered incredible scope for a musical theatre story. (Wilde suffered from postnatal depression after the birth of the eldest two.)
“It is funny in places, and it is not going to make everyone sad,” he says, smiling. “It is emotional for me watching it because it is like our life getting played out.”
He adds: “I’ve been to every country in the world, played every stage but to do this is the best thing I have ever done and to be able to do it with the love of my life is f****** outstanding. It is pretty cool.
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“It shows how mothers feel, but also how postnatal depression affects everyone. I think loads of people will really connect with it. In rehearsals everyone was in tears because it is so emotional.”
Dundee Rep’s artistic director Andrew Panton agrees No Love Songs, which features Dawn Sievewright and John McLarnon as Lana and Jessie, is powerful. “Exploring the themes of modern parenting and postnatal depression in a music theatre form, inspired by Kyle and Laura’s lived experience, has been incredibly exciting and moving,” he says.
Kyle Falconer is a huge fan of musical theatre. “As avid festivalgoers ourselves, we could not be more excited to take No Love Songs to the Fringe. It’s a real ‘pinch-me’ moment for us to be included in the most famous festival in the world, with a platform to reach a worldwide audience.”
No Love Songs, from an original idea by Kyle Falconer and Laura Wilde, by Laura Wilde and Johnny McKnight and directed by Andrew Panton and Tashi Gore. The Traverse Theatre, August 3-27.
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