Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Molly Grace Cutler, Alice McKenna, Sarah Workman, Lisa Wright, Jack Alexander, Tom Connor, Tom Dunlea, Guy Freeman, Jonathan Markwood, Mark Newnham.
A throwaway line caught in the ether, a story that deep down nobody seems to remember and yet it did happen and it is one that rivals any of the stories held up to the legend of Liverpool’s music scene, and one so brilliantly captured and focused upon by playwright Ian Salmon.
Girls Don’t Play Guitars…immortalised for all time as a cheap, almost brutally sarcastic comment thrown in the direction of Mary McGlory as she was introduced to John Lennon and Paul McCartney; John’s own reinforcement of beliefs or the conjuring of inspiration, the rest is history.
And yet as Ian Salmon’s marvellously intoxicating musical shows perfectly well, those four women who took Hamburg by storm, who smoked with Jimi Hendrix, blew Chuck Berry off the stage and who lived a life that so many can only dream of, their name is often overshadowed by that of The Beatles, of Gerry Marsden, and through the ages down to the talented women who took hold of the flame and carried beating down the path laid out with perfection by this band. Nobody would blame you for not knowing the name of The Liverbirds, however, once you have seen Girls Don’t Play Guitars, your appreciation of the times, and of that special, unyielding group of talented women, will never be the same again.
A line that could have been lost in the ether, for Ian Salmon this particular production sits amongst the greatest that has been seen at the Royal Court Theatre. Based upon an original idea by Paul Fitzgerald and given superb musical direction by Howard Gray and concept by Bob Eaton, Girls Don’t Play Guitars is a play that highlights the need, the urgency of a film makes to look beyond the usual fare and see the value of the local story. The city of Liverpool has driven the notion of the local voice, surely now is it time for cinema and television to look at these powerful ideas and Ian Salmon should be amongst them.
With a cast that captures the energy of the period completely, especially Molly Grace Cutler, Alice McKenna, Sarah Workman and Lisa Wright who take on the mantle of Val, Mary, Sylvia and Pam with outrageous grace and fun, and with the ever captivating Tom Connor, Mark Newnham and Jonathan Markwood reprising their own take on Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Bob Wooler, as well as being part of the expansive cast of characters, Girls Don’t Play Guitars proves that the past can always be remembered and made to shine brighter than ever.
Girls don’t only play guitars; they bring the house down and bring the audience to their feet; outstanding!
Ian D. Hall