June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music and Me

Aug 10 2024 | By Hugh Simpson More

★★★★☆ Exuberant

Summerhall (Venue 26): Fri 2 – Sat 24 Aug 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson

Intense emotion is combined with real intelligence in The National Theatre of Scotland and Grid Iron’s June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music and Me by Charlene Boyd, at Summerhall Dissection Room.

The story of June Carter – scion of country pioneers the Carter family, wife of Johnny Cash, but most importantly a notable singer-songwriter (and actor, and comedian) in her own right – needs to be told. However, this is not just that story.

A woman sits on a circular stage, surrounded by a band. She is wearing a long blue dress and holding an autoharp.

Harry Ward and Charlene Boyd. Pic: Sally Jubb.

This production is as much about its writer/performer Boyd, and her struggles during COVID times to keep body and soul together, with her marriage ended, two small children and no acting work. Coming across a signed copy of June’s autobiography – and the discovery that it was June, not Johnny, who wrote Ring of Fire as sung by Boyd for so long in tribute bands – leads to research into Carter Cash, a journey of self-discovery and an eventual trip to the USA.

raw, personal and brilliantly structured

So this is one of those plays about writing a play, but has none of the self-indulgence that can bring. Instead, it is a raw, personal and brilliantly structured piece. The experiences of both Boyd and Carter Cash in male-dominated creative industries are grimly evoked, but the end product speaks of the joy of creative possibility and shared experience.

A woman with dark hair in a blue dress and silver boots sitson the edge of a smallstage with a mop in her arms, pretending it is gun. Behind her, a band performs with a neon
sign that says "June".

Charlene Boyd. Pic: Sally Jubb.

This is down to Boyd’s excellent play, and to her performance. What seems at the start (with band and Boyd in full swing as the audience enters) to be a slightly hokey tribute act, soon becomes more personal. It then opens out into a combination of Boyd and Carter Cash’s stories that is extremely clever and very effective.

glorious design

Cora Bissett’s direction, meanwhile, is tremendous, making use of the full space in the room, which is decked out with Shona Reppe’s glorious design – like a country music club that is also the gateway to other dimensions.

A woman is doing a ventriloquist performance with a small puppet of a man on a stool,while the band plays on behind her.

Charlene Boyd and Ray Aggs. Pic: Sally Jubb.

And there’s the music, of course. It should be stressed that this is definitely not any kind of jukebox musical, and Boyd doesn’t actually do that much singing. Rather, it is a play about music (among other things) in which music plays an integral part. There is Pippa Murphy’s excellent sound design, and a splendid onstage band of Ray Aggs, Amy Duncan and Harry Ward, with Ward in particular providing the odd back-up character.

signally impressive

This is one of these shows that engages the heart and brain equally, with its deeply felt salute to an underappreciated figure (Carter Cash is still not in the Country Music Hall of Fame) as well as being a signally impressive play-writing debut.

Running time: One hour and 25 minutes (no interval)
Summerhall (Dissection Room), 1 Summerhall, EH9 1PL (Venue 26)
Friday 2 – Saturday 24 August 2024
Daily (not Mons): 4.20 pm
Details and tickets: Book here

NTS Website: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
Instagram: @ntsonline
X: @NTSonline

Gridiron Website: https://gridiron.org.uk/
Facebook: @gridirontheatre
X: @gridirontheatre