EDINBURGH 2013 - BWW Reviews: I'M WITH THE BAND, Traverse Theatre, August 4 2013

"I'm With The Band" is a topical play with an interesting concept. It is a musical drama about successful indie rock band The Union, who comprise an English lead singer, a Welsh bassist, a Northern Irish drummer and a Scottish lead guitarist, the last of whom has decided he wants to leave the group. It's a cute metaphor for the independence referendum, written by Welshman Tim Price and featuring Gordon McIntyre's catchy score of original songs, all played live on stage by the performers.

Despite the interesting idea, it was disappointing that Price did not manage to articulate much about the motivations behind the issue of independence. The roots of the discord in the UK are presented in this work as primarily stemming from the recent financial crisis with only the odd throwaway comment to the English character that he has always been patronising. There's no real sense that these characters have a history together or that resentment has been building for some time.

Scotland, in the form of guitarist Barry Douglas (Andy Clark), is written as a petulant child prone to throwing tantrums when things don't go his way, while little reference is made to any past antagonism or the benefits that a solo career might offer either the character or the northernmost nation of the British Isles. It seems strange to present an audience in Scotland with a character who seeks independence but who never coherently articulates the motivation behind it.

Price makes the point that Scottish independence would lead the other nations of the UK to reconsider their own identity, and perhaps the play's most interesting thought for Britain is what we hear of the Northern Irish Aaron's consideration of getting back with his Irish ex-girlfriend with whom he has a turbulent and frequently violent relationship.

The strongest performance comes from James Hillier as Damien, the condescending and controlling English lead singer, composer and creative maestro. It is his pointed lines to his bandmates, matching English attitudes to the rest of the UK, which garner the most recognition and laughter from the Traverse audience. The loss of his Scottish bandmate fuels his need to control and forge ahead regardless of the other band members, eventually leading to a sequence where Damien utilises every instrument in turn to create an overpowering new sound, while his redundant bandmates writhe in pain, before turning on him and destroying the bands' instruments.

It is good to see a play with the courage to take an opinion on an important topic like Scottish independence rather than sitting on the fence, but the idea that a broken up Union would result in Britain descending into violence, failure, misery and destruction, that can only be avoided with Scotland staying put to check English dominance seems to do a disservice to all of the nations of the UK. That seems a poor motivation for Scottish voters, and fails to address the issues that brought the UK to this constitutional crossroads. After Edinburgh, the production will have a run in London and a tour of Wales, so it will be interesting to see what audiences in other parts of the UK make of it. From a Scottish perspective however, it never hits upon an understanding of how the Union got to this point, nor where it could go from here.

I'm With the Band runs at the Traverse Theatre until August 25th (no performances on Mondays). It transfers to the St. James Theatre, London from August 28th to September 7th, before embarking on a Welsh tour.

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