Man up: Iain Robertson and Rosalind Sydney in "My Romantic History"
The old truism, that if you haven’t met someone by the time you graduate, you’re going to end up marrying someone from your work, is, shorn of the odd expletive, more or less the opening line of D.C Jackson’s terrific new comedy. And he proceeds to demonstrate exactly how it happens, with a mixture of show-stopping one liners, cringe-inducing honesty and, behind the laughter, some sharp insights into what men and women are really thinking behind the water-cooler platitudes.
I can’t speak for the women in the audience but for the men, while it may not make you feel proud, I defy you not to recognise yourself in an awful lot of it.
Jackson first gave notice of a prodigious talent in his series of plays about growing up in Ayrshire, notably The Wall. The final part of that trilogy is due to open in Glasgow next month, but it is a measure of his growing reputation that this play, unmistakably Scottish in tone with the odd local joke for which visitors will require footnotes, is a joint production from the Bush in London and the Crucible in Sheffield in association with the Rep in Birmingham. If being able to create something universally recognisable while still remaining rooted in the particular is a sign of real writing class, then this is it.
He has not completely left the Ayrshire schooldays material behind because both Thom and Amy, who meet when Thom arrives at a new job, reflect to the audience on the “romantic history” which has led them to this point, as their new relationship staggers inadvertently to life. To begin with it is Thom (Iain Robertson) who gives the sardonic commentary on how he and Amy (Alison O’Donnell) end up at – well it would be a shame to say exactly where. But in a deft twist , Jackson then repeats the whole thing from Amy’s point of view with her equally telling commentary.
Between them and Rosalind Sydney, the three of them play 18 other characters in a fast-moving production by Lyndsey Turner which is every bit as witty and inventive as Jackson’s writing. Along with note perfect performances and Chloe Lamford’s cardbox box set, this is 90 minutes of pure pleasure.
My Romantic History. Until August 29. Traverse 0131 229 1404
