Last Night I Dreamt that Somebody Loved Me
★★★★☆ Accomplished
Summerhall: Mon 23 – Wed 25 Sept 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me is a wistful piece about growing up that has considerable punch and an impressive musical content.
The play is written and performed by Ben Harrison of Grid Iron, together with that theatre company’s longtime musical associate: David Paul Jones. Harrison’s stories of an 80s adolescence are accompanied by Jones’s reworkings of songs from that decade.
Ben Harrison with David Paul Jones and Emery Hunter in Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me. Pic: Peter Dibdin
This is much more of a coherent piece of theatre than such a description might suggest, with Scott Johnston’s direction knitting it all together beautifully. Harrison sings as well as providing the bulk of the narration, while Jones provides other characters (including a cat). He also supplies a story from his own smalltown teenage years, in North Ayrshire rather than Harrison’s Norfolk.
BSL interpreter Emery Hunter is an important part of the performance, acting as well as providing the signing whose integration into the narrative should serve as an object lesson in how to do this. Simon Wilkinson’s lighting, dominated by a zigzag, colour-changing neon tube, helps greatly with the ambience.
This is an atmospheric and intimate production, obviously with most appeal to those who lived through the 80s but with enough universality to resonate with anyone who has ever been a teenager.
misspent youth,
For those seeking to relive their misspent youth, the music will undoubtedly be the main selling point. Well-known numbers from student discos of the time rub shoulders with some more unexpected choices.
There are ten songs from the 80s, as well as one Jones composition, but there is no attempt to recreate the originals. These versions tend to be slower and more yearning, with classically tinged piano, electronic soundscapes and Justyna Jablonska’s live cello. Smalltown Boy, Boys Don’t Cry and Head Over Heels (that’s Tears For Fears, not Abba) are almost unrecognisable at first. A version of Like A Prayer is distinctly different from Madonna’s, and just goes to reinforce what a great song it is.
David Paul Jones, Ben Harrison and Emery Hunter in Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me. Pic: Peter Dibdin
The music is tinged with more than a degree of regret, with Jones’s voice haunting and the backing sparse and at times mournful, but also always with real warmth.
This certainly isn’t an attempt at a ‘greatest hits of the 80s’, with some songs obviously chosen for their relevance to the narrative rather than inherent merit. Which is lucky, as the 80s were a decade fraught with enough worry as it was. If anyone had thought that 20% of the time’s most memorable music was written by Sting (who provides two of the ten songs here), it would surely have been even more painful to get through.
And there is the question of the song which gives the play its title, of course. The poster also clearly evokes the cover of The Queen is Dead, and there is no getting away from how much The Smiths meant to so many at the time.
inclusive experience
There is also no escaping the fact that Morrissey has – to say the least – become a problematic figure in the intervening years. There are, of course, many musicians whose personal conduct makes their work difficult, but the very fact of Morrissey being such a figure of identification for outsiders makes his subsequent comments about marginalised groups so hard to take for many of his erstwhile fans. So there are certainly those who would find it painful to go to a show named after one of his lyrics.
Which is a shame, as this is undoubtedly an inclusive experience, with nostalgia mixed with realism – Harrison never shies away from confronting the delusions and self-aggrandisement of youth as well as its pain and idealism.
The stories don’t always work; there are some that obviously mean a great deal to Harrison, but don’t always come across as so important to the audience. The overall production, however, is carefully constructed and emotionally fulfilling.
Running time: One hour and 15 minutes (no interval)
Summerhall (Old Lab), 1 Summerhall, EH9 1PL.
Monday 23 – Wednesday 25 September
Evenings: 8pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Show website: www.lastnightidreamt.org Includes a link to a recorded Live Stream from the Tron Theatre.
Also at Findhorn Bay Festival Saturday 28 September at 4 pm and 8 pm. Book here.
Emery Hunter, Ben Harrison and Justyna Jablonska in Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me. Pic: Peter Dibdin.
ENDS
