Review: Girl From The North Country at Nottingham Theatre Royal

THE audience is taken to heartlands of 1934 America as The Girl From The North Country ­— featuring the songs of Bob Dylan ­— tours the UK for the first time.

The double Olivier Award-winning West End and Broadway smash-hit musical is at Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday.

Written and directed by Conor McPherson, it engages the audience from the first minute, and leaves you speechless and amazed to the last.

The play takes the audience back to the heartland of America in 1934, where strangers cross paths in a mediocre guest house that is on the verge of bankruptcy.

It tells the story of dysfunctional family, from the aspiring Hemingway son [Gregor Milne], to the pregnant rescued daughter [Justina Kehinde], to the mother who hears a girl in hallway [Frances McNamee]. to the dad who owns the guest house and cooking skills aren't to be praised [Colin Connor].

Each single character has a different life story, but they all end up in the same place by the end.

Throughout the play, each character seems to remain on a continuous search for a future that will never arrive, while hiding from a past that they refuse to talk about.

The legendary songs of Bob Dylan are sung with heart and soul and with such talent that you have never heard them like that ever before.

Either it is the lights, the outfits, the brutally talented voices of each one of the performers or even the old man sitting next to you smiling and silently humming next to you, the play is a must watch.

In the two-hour performance, a mix of reactions is caught from the public, from laughs, to shock to compassion.

The show caught me off guard for how good it was. I went there with one expectation and left with another, it was a rollercoaster of emotions and talent. — MT