★★★
Picture the scene: The Beatles have just released ‘Love Me Do’, England’s team captain Bobby Moore and his wife Tina are the ‘IT’ couple and Harold Wilson is Prime Minister. I am, of course, talking about the year 1966; the year that you are transported back to in Talking Shadows’ new musical titled, 1966, led by writer and director Rebecca Vine.
The show follows a young group of friends who host a party to watch the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany. The 50 minute show opens with a rendition of Mary Hopkins’ ‘Those Were the Days’. We then see four close girlfriends, sat in a 1960’s style front room, discussing boys, sex and the lack of love they have for football. Their rapport is natural; the dialogue is quick and sharp with plenty of wit thrown in for good measure.
Then enter the boys of the group. Now this set of characters do introduce the audience to the themes of gender inequality and toxic masculinity, thus, allowing male prejudices of the time to be exposed and explored, albeit not in enough depth. This leaves you questioning how integral these themes are supposed to be to the show. This is mostly down to the fact that at this point there are too many characters on stage. Yes, it creates the atmosphere of a genuine gathering between friends but sometimes less is more.
There wasn’t enough space for the characters to breathe. Certain lines such as “where are our dreams?” and “I didn’t know women could be doctors” felt on the nose and contrived because of time constraints. The show’s core themes felt like they were being shoe-horned around the eight characters on stage. In short, there are too many characters that don’t serve enough of a purpose, again leaving you questioning what the show is actually shooting for.
In saying that, all the cast are well-rehearsed. Their group harmonies are tight and they are all assured performers in their own right. Each of them knew where they needed to be and there were no moments of hesitation—pretty impressive considering it was their first performance. The only issue in terms of the show’s technical execution was the sound and unfortunately, as this is a musical, it became a prominent issue. The vocals were often drowned out by tracks that were simply too loud—dialogue and lyrics were therefore hard to decipher. However, it must be stressed that this was their first performance and this is something that can be swiftly resolved!
So, the cast are vocally strong and enjoyable, polished performers, even if there are too many of them on stage. The costumes and soundtrack don’t provide the wow factor but are fun and do fit well with the show’s energy. The main issues that arise during the performance are the overpowering tracks that drown out most of the vocal performances and the loss of intent in terms of storytelling. It wasn’t always clear what the script and the story as a whole were quite shooting for. Besides football and the soundtrack, the year 1966 somewhat becomes irrelevant. With a few tweaks, some refining and clearer intentions this show has all the bones to be a fabulous show that could move with ease beyond the Fringe!
1966 will run until 23 August at 39 Space 1 at theSpace on the Mile as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Cory Gourley
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