Sunshine on Leith: a Scottish story of yearning for home

This story is one where it’s the men who have to change

Sunshine on Leith, the Proclaimers stage musical upon which the 2013 film was based, has its heart in the Edinburgh port, but its head firmly in Dundee. It was here at the Rep, after all, that playwright Stephen Greenhorn’s jukebox affair was first staged in 2007, going on to be a touring success for the theatre and its company.

It’s great to see the piece staged and touring once more, especially as this run has seen a theatre outside Scotland catch on to the sheer quality of the show and take it on. Although there is something of a cheat going on, as James Brining, artistic director of producers West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, was in the same role at the Rep when Sunshine on Leith was first seen.

He directs this version with a fluency for the wit, local detail (courtesy of Colin Richmond’s set) and particularly Scottish sentimentality of the original which does perfect justice to Greenhorn’s slightly updated (Brexit is mentioned, the Scottish Indyref a past event) modern classic.

The narrative remains deceptively simple. Ally (Pauljames Corrigan) and Davy (John Mclarnon) are two young squaddies returned home from Afghanistan, in Ally’s case to Davy’s sister Liz, and in Davy’s to a new romance with Liz’s workmate at the hospital where she works, Yvonne (Jocasta Almgill). Hilary Maclean and Phil Mckee are Jean and Rab, parents to Davy and Liz, contentedly married for approaching 30 years. Yet it’s their anniversary party which pulls all three couples apart, as Rab’s past indiscretion, Liz’s need for escape and Yvonne’s fear of being hurt – literally – by Davy are revealed.

While all of the characters have their problems, it’s fair to say this story is one where it’s the men who have to change, who have to get past their front and fear of addressing their own emotions. In that sense it’s like the best of the Proclaimers’ songs, and the big, lively set pieces here reflect that: the call centre training session which becomes an argument about the Scottish dialect on Throw the ‘R’ Away; the bittersweet political edge of What Do You Do; and the masterful finale of Letter from America and (I’m Gonna Be) 500 Miles, summing up a very Scottish story of migration and yearning for home. Sunshine on Leith is at Dundee Rep until June 16.