Jake Mace
PALS is a deeply empathetic and hilarious ode to upbringing, companionship, and the ups-and-downs of groups of close friends. Exceptionally polished in performance and script, it offers up some of the very best of Scottish theatrical joy at EdFringe this year. A camping trip gone awry makes way for the personal growth of a deeply loveable and relatable set of women on the cusp of working out what they should be doing with their futures.
Millie Rodger’s Sadie delivers a monologue while photographing from a stunning viewpoint in Scotland, harking back on her youth exploring the countryside of Scotland in day trips with her Mum. Nostalgia becomes visceral fun as she embarks on a night out with her pals that finds the four of them asking – where are all of us going with our lives? The answer, of course – climb a hill and see what they find out about themselves along the way.
The concept is beautifully simple and leaves room for hysterical frolics and well-executed silliness in between the girls leaving the city and finding themselves on the shores of Loch Lomond. The crux of the show leaves us questioning whether they will make it to the top of their hill, and what stones might be left unturned along the way. There is always a dissonance between the lives that childhood friends lead as they come to be adults, and Mirren Wilson’s flawlessly abundant script gives the characters space to explore and reveal questions of illness, care, career ambition, womanhood, national identity, and everything in between.
This is theatre designed to make you feel something, with as much heart clearly visible on stage as has evidently gone into creating a realistic group of friends facing deeply funny situations in one minute and supporting each other through a crisis in the next. None of the topics explored feel shallow – from M.S to hormones, friendship to the benefits of hiking. Each is a world within a world, expressed by comedically heightened yet realistic performances and commitment to exploring each theme’s widest facets.
References to Scottish pop culture – from critiquing the Proclaimers down to dancing ‘The Slosh’ – filled the crowd with momentous joy in my sitting. I attended the show with friends – German, American, Irish, and Canadian – and each of them left feeling like they’d had a full runabout of what a Scottish upbringing entails, and how it leaves an impact on who those characters became. There is a deep, flowing, gorgeous respect of the Scottish Countryside that is embodied in Rodger’s central performance, but also an exploration of how our urban sensibilities in the Central Belt have impacted our relationship with the land around us.
I utterly adored the Scottish Gaelic representation in this piece – a true reflection of the journey that our civil society is going on in understanding what place this language has in our society. Rodger’s character delivers fabulously transparent and impactful monologues exploring her Mum’s relationship to the language. Rodger herself proves to be a formidable leading performer, intersecting her friends’ capers with sentimental monologues, each one building another rivet of relatability into the complex and emotionally difficult world the characters inhabit.
Ensemble casting is a tricky business, and yet, this piece straddles the line of sit-com and emotional drama with ease. Briony Martha plays Claire with such clownish expression that you might be worried the performance would fall into stereotype, yet we’re pulled up by how she handles the character’s journey in illness in the show’s second act. Nonetheless, a scene-stealer that leaves you in fits of laughter.
Amy Glass’ Taylor offers up an enjoyably resentful satire of ‘Instagram Culture’ but gives way to such great emotional depth as the story draws to a close. Shelley Midler’s Flo starts as a fretful office drone but becomes a three-dimensional human being by the show’s end too.
A killer soundtrack traversing the full range of Scottish anthems gives way to gorgeously rich soundscaping from Étáin Saoirse Sweeney, encapsulating both the intoxicating magic of our countryside, and the unforgettable adventures of a group of young women on a new trajectory in their lives.
From watching these pals construct a tent, to glorious whimsy in vignettes representing their hike, there isn’t a moment where you’re neither laughing nor crying at this. The sensitive issues in these women’s lives is handled with such a careful hand, a hand that wants to let the world know about how Scottish friendships form, settle, and evolve. It’s hard not to fall in love with this show from the moment you walk in.
Brass, breathtaking, brilliant – yet always drenched in constant zaniness – PALS walks the line of sit-com and heartfelt love letter to a Scottish upbringing with ease.
Recommended Drink: Join Claire in downing a full bottle of sauvy-bee at the pub.
You can catch PALS at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose – Dram from August 8th until the 26th (not 13th & 20th) at 17:00. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Phoebe Bakker
