REVIEW: Glasgow Kiss – Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow

If gallusness needed an explanation then David Carswell’s Scottish musical Glasgow Kiss is a living, breathing personification of everything it means. Crammed full of the most recognisable Scottish hits and some forgotten gems, it tells a story of life and love in the nation’s biggest city.

Opening on the melancholic strains of Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia, it’s 2010 and James, a twenty-year exile in London, is returning home for a family funeral. While the return reunites him with his loved ones, it leads him to question what really matters in life, career success or happiness.

Utilising a moving timeline and visiting a raft of familiar locations: the Botanic Gardens, the 1988 Garden Festival and the world famous Barrowland Ballroom, we travel back and forth in time to flesh out James’ back story and that of his rag bag band of pals.

The story heavily utilises the Scottish propensity for melancholy and there are moments of sadness liberally sprinkled among the belly laughs. These are, at times, disconcertingly placed in the narrative and undoubtedly shake up audience expectations, however, the backbone of the story lacks the strength to successfully carry this at times, leaving a few woolly moments where the story, and its intentions aren’t entirely clear.

The very specific local humour is not going to win any awards for subtlety (and anyone offended by colourful language better cover their ears) but it knows its target audience well. The eternal religious divide is humorously exploited and the profanity strewn local patter is perfectly replicated.

The two greatest assets the show has are its cast and its soundtrack. Many of the cast reprise their roles from the original production and their familiarity and camaraderie shines through. Stephen Arden is the surest of hands and in fine voice as lead James, delivering a perfectly judged performance of emotional weight in contrast to the larger-than-life antics of his fellow cast members and Andrew Agnew is a tornado of sequins in six inch heels as drag queen karaoke host Mary Hill, whose fabulous voice is woefully underused. For all the talent of the cast, it is the songs that deliver the biggest impact. It is absolutely crammed to the brim with the best and most brilliant of Scottish rock and pop from over four decades, and while the links to the storyline might be tenuous at times, the reaction from the audience when the first familiar notes of each well-loved song rings out is electric.

Glasgow Kiss perfectly exploits the eternal appetite for nostalgia and the Glaswegians’ willingness to poke fun at themselves and it does so with a brash bravado that celebrates the city and its inhabitants. If a packed to the rafters audience on a chilly Monday night is a measure of success, then Glasgow Kiss is, in the words of Gerry Cinnamon “a belter”.