Review: THE STEAMIE, King's Theatre, Glasgow

The much lovEd Scottish play The Steamie is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. First coming to the stage in 1987, The Steamie is set in a Glasgow washhouse on Hogmanay in the 1950's. Widely regarded as a classic, the text is a staple of Scottish drama classes and holds a lot of nostalgia for those that studied it or are familiar with the tv adaptation from 1988.

As a comedy, The Steamie completely missed the mark for me. There were a couple of elements of the show that were quite touching but they were overshadowed by drawn out routines that weren't funny in the first place. The Steamie highlights the social aspect of going to the washhouse and how important it was to women in the 1950's, especially those who are a little bit lonely.

While not quite a musical, The Steamie is punctuated with a few songs. Again, they're meant to hold comedic value but they come across as pointless filler.

The five strong cast gave a capable and convincing performance. Mary McCusker was particularly good as Mrs Culfeathers who was the character with the most depth and backstory.

The play makes good use of the Glasgow patter and having grown up in the Glasgow area I did appreciate all of the references. Although it seemed to be a smash with most of the audience I found that The Steamie took too long to get going and it favoured cheap laughs over any kind of substantial story.

The Steamie is at the King's Theatre, Glasgow until Saturday 4th November.

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