Paras Over The Barras Review

Edinburgh Evening News, Friday November

Wartime tale a hilarious delight

MARTIN LENON

Paras Over The Barras
St Serf's Church Hall

WHEN the audience laughs out loud during the first few minutes of a show, it's a good sign. Even better, Leitheatre's version of James Barclay's Paras Over The Barras kept the capacity crowd laughing throughout its two-hour performance.

The play dripped with nostalgia. Set in Glasgow during the Second World War, most of the action takes place in Annie's flat, which she shares with her brother, Wullie McSorley. The story pivots around two events - the impending engagement of Annie's daughter, Rita, and the death of a neighbour, her friend Ina McLatchie's father.

It might not sound like the recipe for hilarity, but Paras Over The Barras is full of the kind of brilliantly observed gallows humour that kept the spirits up in war-torn Glasgow at the time.

The stage sets didn't just provide a backdrop, they gave the play a real feeling of context, from the wally dugs on the mantelpiece to the Dig For Victory posters in the bomb-shelters, thanks to designer Derek Blackwood's keen eye for detail.

The biggest triumph though, was in the casting. Billy Renfrew and Ruth McLaren in the main roles of Wullie and Annie were inspired. Either could easily forge careers on the stage.

Clem Allan was magnificent, and perhaps a little too believable as Fingers McGeachie, and a young David Meadows did a fine job as undertakers' apprentice Curdy McVey. Alex Purves was a quietly shining gem as Hector the undertaker, while director Don Arnott popped on occasionally to wield his authority as air-raid warden Erchie McPherson.

A hilarious play, well acted and beautifully staged. What more could you ask?