Review: PADDY'S MARKET, The Shed, Glasgow

Paddy's market was a flea market in Glasgow which was closed down in 2009. This new play with music from Michael McEneny aims to tell the story of the controversial market from all sides. We meet the characters from the market, the hard-working traders and the questionable ones behind the dodgy dealings.

It seemed as though there was only a limited number of microphones to go around so the sound was uneven throughout. The music was also too loud at points and you couldn't hear the actors. To rectify this, the sound was dropped significantly which drew even more attention to it but it is worth mentioning that this was the first performance of the show so there was likely to be teething problems.

Some of the issues that the show deals with are having the authorities call their pitches into question and the sale of counterfeit goods. The stories are let down by the acting and the staging of the play. The audience is seated around three sides of the stage and due to sound issues you generally can't hear what every actor is saying unless they are facing you.

The saving grace of this production were the two youngest performers- Asante Finlay and Kaiden Clark McGrath. As the children who played around the market while their parents worked, they gave the most convincing performances in the show.

Paddy's Market had a lot of potential because the market has such interesting stories but this production was disjointed and failed to hold audience attention.

Paddy's Market is at The Shed, Glasgow until Sunday 21st October http://tramdirect.org

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