When it comes to No Love Songs, there is no need for hyperbole. Quite simply, this is one of the most powerful theatre journeys an audience is likely to be taken on this year. You will laugh until you cry. And you will simply cry.
The play is inspired by the experience of co-writer Laura Wilde and her partner Kyle Falconer, best known as rock star with The View, and charts their meeting, falling and love and having children.
But as Jesse’s (John McLarnon) career begins to rocket and he’s headed Stateside, Lana, played by Anna Russell-Martin, finds herself being crushed by loneliness and an inability to cope with being a mum.
Anna Russell-Martin stars as Lana, and she acknowledges that it’s an immensely challenging piece. “People told me I’d be emotionally exhausted every night after rehearsals, but it wasn’t until I began performing that I knew what they really meant,” she offers.
“I began to think ‘Oh my god, I really need to take care of myself while I’m working on this play because there is a whole section in the middle where you can’t mark it. You really need to go to that place.’ And it’s a performance that you feel in your belly. It’s just so guttural, and there is this three-song section, in which Lana’s mental health gets worse, which takes the energy right out of you.”
Russell-Martin points out it’s not hard for an actor to access these pits of despair – the writing of Laura Wilde and co-writer Johnny McKnight is so acute, and the tones are complimented perfectly by Faulkner’s powerful songwriting - it’s coming back up for air that’s the problem.
“I need to leave the character behind in the theatre at the end of the evening,” says the actor from Coatbridge. “The problem if you don’t is that your body thinks it’s going through all this trauma.”
And what trauma. Raging depression. Crying. Suicidal thoughts. “And when you’re yelling out lines such as ‘Nobody cares about me!’ it hurts.” She reflects: “I’ve performed a panic attack before on stage, and you have to be careful you don’t slide into an actual attack. It may seem like it’s all emotionally free, but it’s not. It’s massive. And while I knew this would be a demanding piece, I had no idea the toll it would take on me.”
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It has to be highlighted however that No Love Songs is not an opportunity to knock an audience around with a one, long unrelenting dive into depression. What really sets this play apart is its powerful comedy voice, how it perfectly captures the joys and whimsy of new love; for a little while we’re almost headed in the direction of one of Neil Simon’s softer relationship comedies.
“It’s great when Lana’s in love and they’ve just had a baby,” says the actor, recalling the first half undiluted joy. “It’s so funny and effortlessly Scottish. The tone, of how young people get together, is really perfect.”
And the music, which featured on Kyle Falconer’s album of the same name, is perfectly placed. Russell-Martin smiles however when talking of the tonal shift. “I guess I should be used to it, having played so many dark characters over the years, women who have been abused, for example. But who I really feel sorry for are my mum and dad, who I’ve put through the mill so many times, watching me up there on stage.
What of childbirth? Has rehearsing it out day after day wonder about the future? “It’s not worth the risk,” she says, with a dark laugh. “This play would really put you off. But not that I’m thinking of having kids anytime soon, but when you think about what childbirth can do to your body, and your mental health, it feels awful.”
It has to be pointed out that not every birth results in body collapse and emotional disintegration. “I guess that’s true,” she laughs, “but given I’ve just had a crash course on what may happen I’ll leave it for now.”
Anna Russell-Martin has yet to meet Laura Wilde. “Because it’s such a personal piece it will be daunting to meet her. But I’m looking forward to it.”
So how will she shake of Lana at the end of the night? “I don’t know,” she says, grinning. “I may just have a wee dance in my dressing room or put on some of Kyle’s Falconer’s songs. I was a big fan when I was a teenager, and the music reminds me of going out and feeling giddy. That feels about right.”
No Love Songs, Dundee Rep Theatre, May 9-11.
Don’t Miss:
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the musical theatre extravaganza that underlines we are no longer allowed to shove young people into small boxes in the hope they will turn out very differently, featuring West End sensation Ivano Turco as Jamie Strictly star Kevin Clifton as Hugo/Loco Chanelle.
The King’s Theatre, Glasgow, May 13 – 18
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