Girl from the North Country
Girl From The North Country
Old Vic Theatre
Review Complete
“bleak, dark, metaphorical but actually, uplifting.”
9th July 2025
Conor McPherson’s Girl from the North Country is bleak, dark, both metaphorically and actually, and yet, somehow, I still came out of the theatre feeling uplifted. It cannot be called a musical, rather a play with music and tells the story of a 1930’s boarding house in Minnesota in the depth of the depression where both the owners Gene and Elizabeth Laine and their guests are desperately trying to survive with almost nothing but the clothes they are standing in.
They all bring their different issues to the piece from disability and race to faith and injustice and this makes for some very strong characters, chief among whom is Katie Brayben who plays Elizabeth Laine. Her portrayal of Elizabeth’s dementia is outstanding and anyone who has ever had a relative with this condition cannot fail to be moved by her. Colin Bates, brilliantly playing her husband Gene trying desperately to cope with her wildly changing behaviour while also trying to cope with his problem guests, was also superb. Sifisco Mazibuko is very strong as the ex boxer Joe Scott, imprisoned for something he didn’t do and desperately trying to put his life back together.
The atmosphere of the whole piece is enhanced by the music of Bob Dylan. Some are famous songs like Rolling Stone and others are relatively unknown unless you are a Dylan fan. But the arrangements of these songs are excellent, particularly the beautiful choral singing at the end.
The music generally enhanced the atmosphere rather than relating exactly to situations and while I loved both the script and the music separately, I’m not completely certain that they comfortably married together. And if you add to this the fact that, with so many characters, it is difficult to explore each of them to their full extent, I was left feeling uplifted and yet wanting something more. It was nevertheless a very powerful evenings entertainment.
Reviewer: Julia Rufey
Photography: Original Source
We are Gifted tickets so that in return we may give an honest review. All comments are those of the reviewer and theirs alone.