On the roof of a car park near you…(MultiStorey at Castle Terrace)
The Traverse Theatre presents a revival of Morna Young’s popular “A Play, A Pie and A Pint: Aye, Elvis”. It’s the tale of Joanie, Aberdeen’s number one Elvis fan, the Quine who would be King, who seeks to escape her mundane life with her housebound mother by aiming to become the best Elvis tribute act in the world, singing his hits in the Doric, even tho’ she’s no’ a mannie.
I had two bites at this pie. My first attempt to see the play lasted long enough to eat the pie, drink the pint, and hear the first five seconds of “Ur ye lonesome the nicht?” before the electrics failed. Joyce Falconer who plays Joanie gamely tried to project her Doric tones further but the plug was pulled.
The next attempt was Saturday Farmers’ Market day, also on Castle , when full amplification added atmosphere to the cheese stalls, artisan bread shopping, and vegetable seeking hordes. Add in the one o’clock gun as a special effect, and this show goes with a bang.
Joanie cuts quite a figure in her white rhinestone-studded Elvis suit, the hair quiffed, the lip snarled, and the pose held. She lives for the Sunday Karaoke and meeting her pal Fat Bob (David McGowan) who gets her a gig, a paying gig, that leads to another gig, and buying a laptop, and meeting her soulmate Robert online, and sharing dreams and hopes and taking part in a competition…..
Mother in a wheelchair (Carol Ann Crawford) is no passive observer of this dream. She tells it like she sees it, forcibly, repeatedly – a waste of time in her opinion. The dynamic between the two women is lovingly portrayed. They annoy but are indispensable to each other.
It’s a feel good quirkily original play. And the pie are unco’ guid tae.
****