Crafting a musical around songs from one of the greatest songwriters of all time is a pretty daunting task but the result is a largely successful one for playwright Conor McPherson.
The story of the double Olivier and Tony award-winning West End and Broadway smash hit centres on a run-down guesthouse in 1930s America, in the middle of the Great Depression. Owners Nick and his wife, Elizabeth Laine, who has dementia, are struggling financially and unable to keep up with their mortgage repayments.
Their live-in son is a drunken would-be writer and their adopted, black daughter is pregnant and single. The guesthouse occupants are a collection of lost souls all looking to escape from their pasts and include a wrongly imprisoned boxer, a widow, an insalubrious preacher, a couple with a son with learning disabilities and a morphine taking doctor.
The acting is excellent throughout and the vocals strikingly strong yet beautifully understated, while the hopelessness of the lyrics powerfully contrasts with the frantic dance moves reflecting the intense frustration of the characters with their lot in life.
Meanwhile, the bruises the guesthouse owner's son Gene acquires as a result of him racially provoking and then trying to attack the boxer are impossible not to interpret as the ultimate physical representation of the pain of being human. Frances McNamee as the unfiltered host Elizabeth proves a surprisingly delightful comic antidote to the hopelessness of the lives of her and her husband's down on their luck guests.
Conversely, Mr Perry, played by Teddy Kempner, starting off as a lecherous figure of fun in his pursuit of the Laines' daughter, Marianne, played convincingly by Justine Kehinde, portrays all too familiarly the depressing eagerness of those in stronger positions to exploit the vulnerable. Songs are taken from the entirety of Dylan's back catalogue including the poignant 'Like A Rolling Stone’ and tearjerkers 'Make You Feel My Love’, famously covered by Adele, and ‘Forever Young’.
Elsewhere, the set design is simple and nothing more is needed. It's an emotional and extremely watchable production.
That said, and at the risk of sounding boringly prosaic, the stories of some of the characters are a little unclear. If you're an ardent Dylan fan hoping to hear his most famous songs in a musical - generic as it may seem - where the songs drive the action, rather than the other way round, you may be a little disappointed.
If you go with an open mind however and a better than average ability to follow a story, you'll very likely love it.
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