By rights the cast have no business enjoying themselves as much as they evidently did last night, they are working after all. However, I suspect, given Peter Rowe’s fluid direction, that cast enjoyment is in the bones of the production. The setting has a bunch of musicians enjoying the craic down at the local bar where the ceilidh is spontaneous and ongoing and the atmosphere is like a warm hug. It’s everything you hope about Irish traditional culture in a form that would have the tourist board weep for joy. The pity of it is that the audience is trapped in its seat and denied the chance to shake a jig or two during the long introduction – a mini folk concert.

For those unfamiliar with the precursor to this stage version of a film by the same name, the plot is a simple one: how to mend a broken heart. The heart in question is that of singer/songwriter, Guy (Daniel Healy), whose girlfriend has upped and gone to the Big Apple and left him bereft of his muse and all but willing to make matchsticks out of his guitar which he discards like an unloved wet sock. Having none of this self-pity is fate’s beautiful ambassador, ‘Girl’ (Emma Lucia), who as chance would have it is also a musician, though working as a barmaid in the Dublin pub. Recognising Guy’s talent she sets about enlisting the help of her fellow Czech ex-pats, a bank manager (Samuel Martin) and the musicians from the pub, in setting Guy back on the road to musical and emotional recovery.

As the play progresses Irish traditional music is filtered through a contemporary sensibility into songs that retain the spirit of the tradition whilst allowing them to tell the story of emotional and artistic rescue. Songs are never far away as the band of talented and accomplished actor/musicians seem to spontaneously coalesce like the murmuration of starlings eager to push the project along. With music doing much of the heavy lifting plot development can be pared back which makes the play seem light on its feet, something Mr Rowe uses with his (apparently) light touch and often witty direction. There are moments when the band acts something like a Greek chorus as it intensifies the focus on the two central performances of Ms Lucia and Mr Healy whose inter-cultural attraction has us viewing the norms of social propriety as through a kaleidoscope. The ‘Girl’ seemingly doesn’t know how to be put off.

Everybody plays and sings with panache and conviction which helps make the play a joyful testament to the power of music – and the importance of the right person.   ★★★★☆  Graham Wyles    3^rd March 2020