The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
The Steamie
Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, September 4
“It makes you laugh and it makes you cry,” says producer Neil Laidlaw, trying to sum up the enduring appeal of Tony Roper’s classic Glasgow play The Steamie in the year of its 30th anniversary tour.
“But don’t be fooled by how easy that sounds – it’s actually very difficult to pull this off. Not that I’d say something nice to his face, but I think Tony just wrote it beautifully. Everyone knows a Dolly, a Magrit, a Doreen and a Mrs Culfeathers in real life, and that’s why people want to see it again and again and again.”
Telling the tale of Glasgow washerwomen of the 1950s, The Steamie debuted on the Glasgow stage in 1987 and was filmed for one-off broadcast a year later. Roper – otherwise known as Rab C Nesbitt’s luckless best friend Jamesie Cotter – had created a local hit based on “the story of my growing up and the women I was surrounded by”, even though “I just hoped it wouldn’t be an embarrassment and that my friends who are actors wouldn’t dread being in it.”
The cast of the time was all-star for the Scottish stage, including Dorothy Paul, Eileen McCallum and a young Peter Mullan, and this new version sees Mary McCusker reprise her role as Mrs Culfeathers from the 2012 25th anniversary revival, with parts for River City’s Libby McArthur and Carmen Pieraccini, as well as Steven McNicoll and Fiona Wood.
“Mrs Culfeathers has an innocence that is a delight to play,” says McCusker of her character, the older inhabitant of the Steamie, who finds companionship among the people there. McCusker was in the same year as Roper at drama school and knew the steamies well in her youth. “This new cast grab their characters with both hands, and the energy is electric. They’re truthful but funny, too, everything an audience will want.”
“As the saying goes, ‘dying is easy, comedy is hard’,” says Roper. “With every new version of The Steamie, the cast and crew have a mammoth task which calls on all their professionalism, but thankfully this lot have it in screeds.”
After asking Roper if he could stage a new version of The Steamie a decade ago, this will be Laidlaw’s third time as producer. “Our three new cast members Libby, Carmen and Steven will all bring something new and fresh to the roles,” he says, “but we know that what we have works, so we aren’t going to mess around with it.
“In my experience, Fifers have the best sense of humour in Scotland (as a Burntislander, he may be biased) and the Adam Smith Theatre is a great place to start a show, the team there are so wonderfully friendly.”
Dundonians who can’t make it, however, can see The Steamie return at Dundee Rep Theatre on September 18.