This promised well, with an on-stage combo, backing group and what certainly looked on paper great lyrics. Much of that promise is lived up to, though the "stormy weather" which the plot-line of Been So Long suggests, never quite reaches full force.
Yvonne and Simone plan a girl's night out in the soon-to-close bar managed by Barney, interrupted by Gil, seeking revenge on Raymond for stealing his girl. Although man-eating Yvonne tries her damnedest to hook the hunk who turns out to be the Raymond Gil wants to seriously re-arrange, it's Simone that Raymond finally falls for.
There's more than a touch of Midsummer Night's Dream in all this, which some may have already picked up on, and as Professor Stanley Wells has observed ‘everyone loves the ‘Dream''. Although it's already been re-worked and adapted more times than Bottom ends up looking like a donkey, Che Walker's version gives the original a further twist, using other experiments with Shakespearian language and verse throughout. With that sort of pedigree and additional fillip, success ought to be assured. Unfortunately, it slips through the fingers almost as time does on the fateful evening on which the characters encounter.
It's hard to know quite why, as much of the music and lyrics would sit comfortably and proudly on a CD (no great surprise), and are played and performed to an equal standard. All the actors work hard to create their characters, to the point one becomes annoyed they have to work as hard as they clearly do. There's something frustratingly missing from the heart of Been So Long which this reviewer found himself searching for to no result.
That Been So Long achieves four stars is a tribute to its cast, musicians and crew, as well as the high production values which have been so clearly employed. As regards the script, Walker's characters deserve more, and might have fared better in a show less thirled to a Shakespearian predecessor.
Times: 7-30 August, time varies. See Fringe programme for details
copyright Bill Dunlop 2009
First published on EdinburghGuide.com 2009