Five Pound & Twa Bairns (Premiere)


The Courier and Advertiser - October 2005

FIVE POUND AND TWA BAIRNS
Review by Joy Watters

MIKE GIBB'S musical play, enjoying a charity premiere at the Gardyne Theatre this week, takes as its theme the Tay Bridge disaster.

The main focus in the work is on the women left benhind when their men perished, and Gibb has a particular talent in creating dialogue for women.

This production boasts three local women who aquit themselves sensitivly in their roles, both acting and singing.

Based on an idea by John Nimmo, the piece moves between the three households, occupying different layers in the social scale.

The youngest woman's husband has left Dundee to get work in Newcastle leaving her with the twa bairns of the title. The next is a widow whose son is off to Edinburgh University, filling her with pride, and the last is a Broughty Ferry matron married to a general. There is no link between the households, but what binds them is that the men are all returning on the train that fateful night.

The action mainly covers the months preceeding the disaster. Gibb underlines the poignancy of how the bridge collapses days before Hogmanay and hopes for a new year are dashed.

However by the same token, dreams can be kept unshattered as the truth can lie buried with the train wreckage and the women do not learn the secrets their men wanted to keep hidden. There is no grieving for the general's widow, who fears his return will disturb her pleasant existance.

The cast excel in the dozen or so songs, accompanied by Mairi Paton. Tricia Stewart and Sue Robertson excel, both in tone and poignancy.

The piece overall has an engaging directness and an ability to draw in a local audience with it's brand of humour and comment.

The men act in a supporting role, really as the comics of the piece. They are seen briefly to begin with, the brought together in one railway carriage in a device that jars a little.

There are some problems with the structure of the piece in the second half, but the final few songs by the women go some way to remedying that.

The show can be seen again tonight.

© D C Thomson & Co., Ltd 2005



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