Review: The Broons

The Broons The Broons by Rob Drummond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Broons, written by playwrite Rob Drummond, toured Scotland in 2016 to celebrate 80 years of the comic strip, which saw it's first appearance in The Sunday Post in 1936. I actually missed seeing the play when it was on tour, and having recently been able to see Oor Wullie the Musical, I wondered what The Broons had been like in comparison. I fortunately found the book on Kindle, and decided that it would at least be a fun wee read.

The premise of the play is based around the idea of a lot of change happening all at once, and how the family reacts to it. What prompts such mass change? Maggie Broon is getting married, again! Yes, it is again, as reference is made to the strips from the 70s where she was engaged to school teacher Dave McKay. Actually, the whole show makes constant references to various strips and story arcs over the 80 years of continuity, though of course they never actually suggest that the family have lived that long.

With Maggie's announcement, many other of the Broons feel that they need to grow up and move on themselves. Joe gets right back into the boxing, Hen decides to emigrate, Horace applies to be an astronaut, and Daphne... just wants for once to find someone and not be the butt of the joke. Yeah, I have to admit in the reading, Daphne's storyline came off the strongest to me because it has been a recurring thing since the beginning of the strip that she's been unlucky in love for various reasons, and of course that would have a toll on the poor girl. It's nice to see her find some for of happiness by the end of the script.

While reading a script book never really gives you the same experience as seeing the play live would manage, I still found myself giggling at the right parts and enjoying the use of Scots' and when characters jumped from that to 'posh'. I actually wonder if it's ever likely The Broons will be staged again - like Oor Wullie the Musical, it could find it's way into becoming a family favourite over the panto season.

(Actually, speaking of the wee laddie with the bucket, there's a fun wee cameo by him at the end that could be seen as a tie in to his own show. I wonder if it was being planned even then...)

Overall, I would say that at it's core, The Broons is a tale about family, and how sometimes that does entail change, and while change is not a bad thing, it's important to know if a person is doing it because they genuinely feel it's the right move for them, or just because they feel as if they should...

Worth a read. Can only hope that it may be staged again to see it live.

View all my reviews

Comments