Midsummer review

This boutique comedy play by David Greig with songs by Gordon McIntyre first appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe as a two-hander in 2008, where it gained critical acclaim and picked up several awards. In 2018 it was restructured with a cast of four, and revived as part of the Edinburgh International Festival – and it’s this version that is directed here by the Mercury’s creative director Ryan McBryde. 

The story revolves around two strangers – Bob and Helena – who meet in a bar, fall into bed and then spend the rest of the rainy midsummer weekend in Edinburgh living wildly on a stash of misappropriated cash. In many ways, Greig’s wry, sometimes sentimental book seems like the grittier grandparent to Jim Barne and Kit Buchan’s Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), which has just successfully transferred to the West End. Yet this is very much a play with songs, or piece of gig theatre, rather than a musical, and Greig’s urgent, carefully constructed book is the star. It does, however, struggle to stretch to two acts, despite McIntyre’s music and occasional songs. But McBryde’s energetic and inventive direction never falters.

Ross Carswell as second-hand car dealer Bob is a rangy, expansive performer, with a face that lights up when there’s a story to be told. His mismatched affair with Karen Young’s successful divorce lawyer Helena might seem unlikely, but that’s part of the charm of this story. The characters are forced to face up to their personal demons, and both actors navigate the tricky emotional territory with honesty. Much of the appeal of Greig’s script is the way in which it refuses to conform to romantic comedy cliché, and Carswell and Young run with this concept, portrtaying a messy, but ultimately believable couple. A host of other characters, as well as musical accompaniment and narration, are undertaken by Will Arundell and Laura Andresen Guimarães, who help expand the story and inhabit the city. 

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