Tim Firth is the master of the middlebrow. We’ve seen this go well — the film Calendar Girls and its various theatrical iterations — and spectacularly badly, as in the execrable Take That musical The Band.
For this low-key musical about the ups and downs of family life he has managed the rare feat of writing the book, lyrics and music himself. Yet, despite the presence of an attention-grabbing cast, including James Nesbitt and Sheila Hancock, the verdict is double-edged: the work is undeniably heartfelt, but also trite.
The term musical is pushing it a bit; Firth himself calls it a “musical play”. It’s conversational rather than high-flying, with no big numbers; tellingly, one of the catchiest refrains is borrowed from the hymn Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind. This low-fi ethos, appealingly served up in Daniel Evans’s warm production, suits well a story about a family become fractious, with Mum and Dad (Nesbitt) losing their love in the daily grind, the teenage kids losing their formerly strong sibling bond, and Grandma (Hancock) starting to lose her mind.
The trouble is that it’s cosy even in its misery and as for the resolution, achieved via a disaster-laden camping trip, the least said the better.
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Firth is on far stronger ground with his often humorous portrayal of the routine whirl of the everyday, where speeches constantly intersect and interrupt, but no one really listens.
Hancock tries too hard to make May winsome, while Nesbitt, who can’t sing, convincingly portrays Steve as a man desperate to prove his youth at 50 by asking for rollerblades for his birthday.
The strongest work — and voices — come from Clare Burt as mum Yvonne and Kirsty MacLaren as kind-hearted daughter Nicky.
Until June 15 (01243 781312, cft.org.uk)
