Shuggy Boats at Live Theatre, Newcastle Review
Written by Stacy for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
It is clear that Shuggy Boats at Live Theatre has an enormous heart. It arrives on the stage bursting with personality and unmistakable roots in the North East. The writing from Jacquie Lawrence carries the rhythms of the region proudly and the production, directed by Fiona MacPherson, leans fully into that warmth. I could feel the affection for these characters in every corner of the theatre.
The story begins with Maeve. A woman celebrating a milestone birthday who, in one unexpected moment, reveals a secret that sends shockwaves through the family. Her quiz-obsessed husband is there, her cocky gay son, her grieving sister, her niece who is too busy caring about others to concentrate on herself and a line-up of famous faces join the party from a digital distance. What should have been a simple gathering becomes the catalyst for something much bigger and the family is left scrambling to understand what comes next.
Phillippa Wilson plays Maeve with such sincerity and care. She is not written as a larger than life figure dominating the room. Instead, she feels like someone who has quietly arrived at a moment of clarity. At 60 she has woken up and realised that the life she has been living is not the life she was meant to lead. The truth she shares is simple and enormous all in the same breath as we find out that Maeve is a lesbian, and finally ready to live as the person she has always been. Wilson lets that realisation sit gently within the character rather than pushing for blown out drama.
Surrounding Maeve are the people trying to keep up. Dave Johns appears as Jocka and brings a steady presence to the stage. Many will know him from the film I, Daniel Blake, and here he carries the same grounded quality. He feels lived in and familiar and someone who has been around long enough to watch Maeve’s chaos unfold with a mixture of knowing and reluctant acceptance. Natalie Ann Jamieson gives Carolyn a sense of pure warmth and love. Libby Davison’s Angie carries grief that sits just behind every line. Benjamin Storey steps into the role of Ryan with plenty of vain outrage, not by the revelation itself, but by the fact he now has competition for the gay role in the family. Soroosh Lavasani plays Kaz with a grumpy intent that anchors several comical moments. Then there is Fingers Foster, played by Alicia Eyo, a new and enigmatic arrival whose presence sends the story veering in entirely new directions.
The world of the play is busy to say the least. As well as conversations around sexuality and identity, we move between the Provvy, missed academic aspirations, pregnancy, Mastermind, illiteracy in prison, Covid, grief, Tynemouth Pride celebrations and the Jarrow March thrown in for good measure. The journey is chaotic with wildly funny moments and occasional confrontation. But my word it is packed. Very packed with so many storylines running through the production that they begin to compete with each other for the limelight. Each character seems to arrive with a full arc ready to unfold and no room to go with it. Confessions appear quickly, problems escalate quickly and resolutions arrive even quicker. I often felt as though the play was racing to keep up with itself.
Because of that pace the characters sometimes flatten into recognisable types rather than fully explored people. I understood them immediately, but there was rarely the time to truly get to know them. Just as a storyline began to gather momentum, the narrative would shift again with another revelation and another thread demanding attention.This number of narratives meant that some stories were rushed through, some neatly tied off, and others never fully finding the ending they were heading towards.
I personally found myself slightly removed from the emotional core, wishing the play had allowed its characters more time to breathe, more space to unfold and less competition between the many ideas it is trying to explore. But it never stops feeling promising.There is something vibrant at the centre of Shuggy Boats. A proud North East voice with a sense of community and celebration at its heart which left me feeling that this play has the bones of something very strong. This production feels like the beginning of a journey rather than its final destination, and with a little more room for the stories to stretch their legs, it could sail much further.
Plays until 21 March
★★★
