(seen at the performance on 23rd March 2025)
The story of “The Dubliners,” the famous Irish folk band formed back in 1962 – a time when playing music in a Dublin pub was unthinkable, until it was thought of.
Grandad (no programmes available, so sadly no names to credit), who was there at the time, tells their story, joining with his grandson and their friends to sing the songs and mark the lives of the 11 band members over 50 glorious years.
Appropriately set in a bar, with a recording studio off to the side and projections of Dublin behind, 30 songs are linked by narrative lists of album dates and band members meeting and departing.
Fans of the group will love the re-creation of some of their greatest songs. They vary from soul-searing ballads to foot-stomping, seat shaking clap-alongs.
From the opening medley “Black Velvet Band / Wild Rover / The Irish Rover” to captivating numbers like “Dublin In The Rare Auld Times” “The Town I Love So Well” and “Dublin Minstrel” to the comedy of “Seven Drunken Nights” the range is impressive.
Unfortunately, while music and performances are faultless, there are deep flaws in production and presentation.
As a touring show, obviously it cannot be expected to fit onto every stage without problems. The trouble is that the team set themselves up to fail.
The scenery is set so far back on the stage that the show may be happening in the Shaftesbury Theatre a block away. The cast stick to using the tables on their set, audience energy evaporating in the gap between. Only when they leave their barstools do we get glimpses of what a properly staged production may look like.
We also get only glimpses of what the songs sound like. Horrific over-amplification (something complained of on various public review sites) means the words are lost with irritating frequency – the monkey got about half of each in almost every song.
Constricting, too, is the storytelling format. The folksy banter works brilliantly when it works – Grandad’s tin-whistle yarn is a goodie – and the recording studio and funeral sequences are effective; but there are long strings of names and dates, with decades jumped and things ending in 1987.
The most irritating conceit is constant reference made to our cast as “guest stars, ‘Seven Drunken Nights’ appearing” whenever “The Dubliners” themselves headline. We know the actors are telling the story of the band. Sinking them into it serves no purpose except to confuse.
Despite these problems, for the most part it is involving. Not the glorious “Jersey Boys” or “Buddy,” but a delight for fans – and making many more along the way too, no doubt.
3 stars.