THERE is no keener ear for the nuance of Glasgow as she is spoke than Jim Kelman's and this exercise in the subtly shifting interplay of relationships between three expat street people in Birmingham is as good an example as you'll find.
And a find indeed is Paul Cunningham, who plays The Ponce - not in the English-language sexual parasite sense, but in the Glaswegian one of a cadger. He is terrific, flicking back and forth between knee-jerk aggression and the empathy of shared experience, trying to help, as quick to snarl as a ferrel dog, but still generating sympathy for the character.
Also excellent is Mark Price as The Busker, with Kelman indulging his penchant for having people who can play good music actually doing so on stage, with Stormy Monday and Bad Whisky getting big licks along with Got My Mojoe Working and snatches of not a few others.
The fuzzy end of the lollipop, character-wise, goes to Amanda Sykes, who makes more than a fair fist of The Lady, a skeleton of a part with a secret which is, irritatingly, never divulged. she's an enigma and the catalyst for the varying intensities of the kindnesses offered by the characters to each other.
The ensemble playing is excellent and director David O'Neill is to be congratulated for a fascinating interpretation which has many moments of high good humour as well as tension. And are there lots and lots of sweary words? Oh f***, aye.
Dance
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