Paul T Davies reviews No Love Songs presented at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Kyle Falconer and Laura Wilde. Photo: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan No Love Songs
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
9 August 2023
5 Stars
It's at the Fringe that I first encountered gig theatre, now so prevalent it has its own subgenre. It's at the Traverse I've seen the best, namely Bloody Elle and What Girls Are Made Of, both revived this year and both must-sees. Add to that No Love Songs, a superb piece created by Kyle Falconer and Laura Wilde, inspired by their real-life experiences of being young parents and post-natal depression, the piece thrums with moving authenticity.
Both performers are outstanding, living entirely in the music and the moment. The narrative journey is expressed through Kyle's music, both from his back catalogue and new material, and the play also resonates when the music stops, especially when Postnatal depression is at its worse. The musical direction and arrangements by Gavin Whitworth is superb, allowing the piece to breathe as well as roar.
With raw honesty, the show holds the audience musically and emotionally from the first beat to the final chord, and may just be the coolest show in town. Don't miss it!
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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