I doubt if there’s another actress in Scotland who could play the The King-loving quine role of Joan in Morna Young’s hoot of an hour-long show Aye, Elvis (first performed at A Play, A Pie and A Pint in the spring) with so much heart and hilarity than the indomitable Joyce Falconer.
With her distinctive Doric brogue and earthy charm, she switches from pathos to patter with one swivel of her jumpsuit-clad hips and one drop of “an ingin ane ana” vowel. Most memorably and movingly when she turns the poignant Are You Lonesome Tonight? into a belly laugh-inducing blast by rhyming the last word with fricht.
Which is what she gives her housebound mother (a delightfully batty turn by Karen “would you shut the f**k up” Ramsay) and DJ friend Fat Bob (an equally droll performance by David McGowan) when she ditches Dolly and The Spice Girls and turns up and turns heads at the The King’s Head karaoke “as a wifey dressed as Elvis in Aberdeen” replete with turned-up collar, sequins and quiff.
But this is no bawdy gag-fest into which tunes are shoehorned. More a spotlight on those who live their lives in the wings. Encapsulated in Joan’s mother’s withering precis of their fate: “Folk like us don’t live our lives, Joan. We survive.” And survive they do in a feel-good finale, boldly directed by Ken Alexander, in which the Hard Headed Woman finally gets her wish-ish: to feel “properly, like, alive”.
- REVIEW: Orphans @ Edinburgh King’s Theatre ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - 13th April 2022
- REVIEW: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie @ Edinburgh Festival Theatre ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - 30th March 2022
- REVIEW: Sheila’s Island @ Edinburgh King’s Theatre - 2nd March 2022