Dancing Shoes
★★★★☆ Moving
Traverse Theatre: Thurs 4 – Sat 20 Dec 2024
Review by Erin Frances Speirs
Dancing Shoes, written by Stephen Christopher and Graeme Smith, is a joyful and hilarious exploration of addiction, attention, male friendship, and the love of movement.
Produced by Traverse Theatre Company, in association with lunchtime theatre specialists A Play, A Pie, and A Pint, who toured a previous production to the Traverse earlier this year, Dancing shoes features spectacular performances paired with a brilliant script, making for a joyous night at the theatre.
Lee Harris, Stephen Docherty and Craig McLean. Pic Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Donny (Stephen Docherty), who is in his sixties, middle-aged Craig (Lee Harris) and youngster Jay (Craig McLean) meet at Alcoholics Anonymous in their local community centre. Each is excited to tell his story, directly addressing the audience at specific moments throughout.
As much as Donny and Jay want to, Craig forbids them from explaining any backstories: no childhood trauma allowed in this play. This is dealt with comedically, with Craig explaining that it’s a slippery slope and if they keep going back to how their parents treated them, they’ll eventually have to blame all their behaviour on medieval serfs.
refreshing
It’s a refreshing start to a play which mostly takes place in a support group, immediately setting Dancing Shoes apart from its predecessors that explore addiction.
Once he is comfortable with the younger men, Donny reveals that he loves to dance. He believes dancing is what will help him stay sober, but it’s also one of the reasons he wishes to be sober.
Stephen Docherty and his dancing shoes. Pic Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
The wholesome joy of this activity is stripped from Donny when Jay begins uploading videos of him dancing online, penning him as ‘Dancing Donny’ as he goes viral and is ridiculed in the comments. Soon, online attention becomes the new addiction.
Dancing Shoes beautifully explores not only addiction but male friendship, class disparities, generational gaps, and loneliness. Packed full of humour, heartwarming moments, and the famous TikTok dance to Charli XCX’s ‘Apple’, Stephen Christopher and Graeme Smith’s script wizzes through the story at a perfect pace.
expertly placed
Every scene and every moment included is expertly placed and vital for story and character progression. Equally good is Brian Logan’s energetic and seamless direction.
The performances in Dancing Shoes are stellar. Stephen Docherty’s Donny has an endearing charm, naivety, and pathos – making it much more painful to witness his exploitation. Lee Harris is strong as Craig, acting as the most sensible and down to earth of the trio, and helping ground the play.
Craig McLean, Stephen Docherty and Lee Harris. Pic Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
This is in contrast to Craig McLean’s performance as he embodies youthful charm and cheek as Jay, eating up the audience’s laughter. When getting a positive reaction when he addresses the audience, his smile often widens. It is unclear if this is McLean or Jay that is reacting to the audience’s attention. However, if this is a character choice for Jay, it works perfectly since he so quickly becomes infatuated with likes and comments on videos of ‘Dancing Donny’.
Heather Grace Currie’s set design is simple but incredibly effective, perfectly encapsulating a community centre meeting room – complete with plastic red chairs – that easily transforms into other spaces as needed. Interestingly, the cast only uses a small portion of Traverse One’s expansive stage. However, this does not detract from the performances given. Paired with Renny Robertson’s often relaxed yet sometimes vibrant lighting design, audiences are pulled directly into the men’s tale.
no dreary tragedy
A pre-show highlight, immediately setting the tone for this upbeat play that tackles deep issues, is the pop music from a variety of eras that blasts out while the audience enters. This hints that this will be no dreary tragedy about addiction, while highlighting the friendship between these three men of different generations. It is a beautiful touch.
Dancing Shoes is a spirited, heartwarming play from Christopher and Smith that delves into the lives of three vulnerable men, without ever preaching to the audience. The men have struggled, and will continue to struggle, but with each other’s friendship it is clear that they will be okay.
Running time: One hour and 10 minutes (no interval)
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge St, Edinburgh EH1 2ED
Thursday 4 December – Saturday 20 December
Daily (not Sun/Mon): 7.30pm; Sat Mat 13 & 20: 2.30pm (Trav 1).
Tickets and Details: Book here.
Traverse website: www.traverse.co.uk
Facebook: @TraverseTheatre
Instagram: @traversetheatre
A Play, A Pie and A Pint website: playpiepint.com
Facebook: @playpiepint
Instagram: @playpiepint
BlueSky: @playpiepint
Linktree: @playpiepint
Lee Harris, Stephen Docherty and Craig McLean. Pic Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
ENDS
