Local Hero - Royal Lyceum Edinburgh / Chichester 2022

5. Local Hero - Lyceum

Ambitious Texan oil executive Mac arrives in Scotland on a mission to buy a small seaside village and replace it with a refinery. But Mac soon finds out that putting a price on this scenic spot is more complicated than he bargained for. Before the locals get rich, they must decide what a village is worth – A million? A marriage? Or is feeling at home worth more than even money can buy?

Mark Knopfler and David Greig present the World Premiere of this new musical based on the Bill Forsyth film. Forsyth has been vocal about being shut out of the production process and you can see why - changes have been made to reduce the scale of the film to sit it on stage and gone are the characters played on film by Peter Capaldi and Jenny Seagrove BUT these changes remove the background plots that helped propel the film so instead we get a glacially paced first half as there is nothing going on with the supporting characters to hold our interest.

We lose our focus on the community - they aren't characters in their own right, they have become the supporting cast in a musical who are there to fill out some time. A musical of scale will normally have plots A through M to keep us going and indeed in some shows such as Guys and Dolls its the N plots that end up providing the best song and memorable moments but not here. The cast are all trying valiantly to show that they are playing different tropes within a community but with the exception of Viktor the Russian trawler Captain and Mistress Fraser his onshore love interest the supporting cast aren't really given much to do and float around as faceless characterisations in the background with the occasional number. Ten actors in search of a community. And lets get one thing straight - the community here are bastards, people seem to remember the film as being a warm hearted comedy about a man finding himself in the Highlands of Scotland but forget that essentially the community are happy to do harm to Ben to ensure they get their money.

The biggest issues I have is that the first half needs a rocket up its arse - to call the pace glacial would be an understatement, things thankfully improve in the second half but the opening 75 minutes or so are turgid. I know people will say that its based on a film that could be called languid but that film had a visual flair and that's my second big problem here, the direction. This is static, its people on a stage standing about for far too long - it needs injections of pace, punch and flair but we get far too many longueur sections that need oomph to keep the show moving, there is some decent comedy in the script most of which has been pinched from the film and a lot of the original comedy moments fall flat and the best bit of comedy in the whole thing is an exceptionally subtle press of a button that is probably missed by most people (and certainly will be if you are in Row A or B of the stalls as I could just see it from C). This is 160 minutes, 20 minute interval included, and could easily be tightened up to be a better show.

The second half is a lot more interesting and entertaining as that's when the actual story starts. People get given things to do and the drama side of things finally has a purpose. I'm not sure the Mac love story actually works but its certainly a far better 70 minutes or so than the first half. 

I'm couldn't hum the score of Local Hero if asked and I'm not really a Dire Straits fan so the music on offer isn't something that stands out for me, I could name 4 Knopfler songs from his entire career and indeed best know him for the use of "Brothers in Arms" at the end of "Two Cathedrals" and part of the issue I had here is that every so often I kept thinking the score had started playing "Brothers in Arms" and then it veered off elsewhere. Its still a nice enough score that offers some variation but if you aren't a Knopfler fan this isn't going to convert you to the cause.

They also save Coming Home for the end of the show, as with the film its the accompaniment of the "credits" and the band played right on through to the end even after the lights had come up and people were leaving. There was a small number of people giving a standing ovation at the end.

Of the cast its Katrina Bryan as the Stella, the bidey-in and dance partner of the Hotel Owner, who is the most impressive - a character that can see the village for what it is and what will be lost if they sell out to Knox Oil. A character that is willing to give up everything to ensure that progress is halted and Bryan is nuanced, subtle and in your face as and when required.

Simon "Jack Meadows" Rouse is no Burt Lancaster and indeed his American accent is more Grimsby than Galveston.

If you enjoy the film, you'll enjoy this but unlike the similar drawn from existing filmic material of Tutti Frutti or the jukebox musical of Sunshine on Leith this isn't its own beast its more homage than being something that can stand on its own - 6/10. Could do better.