PPP: Kev Campbell Was He
★★★☆☆ Engaging
Traverse: Tue 11 – Sat 15 Mar 2025
Review by Hugh Simpson
Kev Campbell Was He, the latest Play, Pie and a Pint from Òran Mór at the Traverse, is an engaging and gently political production.
Co-presented with Ayr Gaiety, the play is written and performed by Alexander Tait. It was first seen at last year’s Fringe (★★★★☆ Young talent), and has been slotted into the current PPP run at short notice to replace Hell by Jonny & The Baptists.
Alexander Tait in Kev Campbell Was He. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Kev Campbell is a Glaswegian teenager who left school after fifth year ‘because that’s what all his friends did’. He is now working in a cafe and half-heartedly pursuing a job on a construction site in order to get the money to follow a vague dream of going to Australia with his lifelong friend Cammy.
But, partway through writing his name on a toilet cubicle door (hence the title), he has a chance meeting with Quinn. Quinn is English, a student and gay. Quinn represents a world Kev has little experience of.
laced with humour and vitality
Tait’s script is promising and laced with humour and vitality. His performance as Kev is thoroughly believable and extremely likeable. He has an enviable command of timing and physical comedy, while he shifts between Kev and various other characters with considerable skill.
These transitions are aided by Ivan Hamshaw-Thomas’s direction; a one-performer play featuring several different characters (sometimes in conversation with each other) can be tricky to pull off, but here it seems effortless.
Alexander Tait in Kev Campbell Was He. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
The play’s depictions of homophobia, ally-ship, masculinity in crisis and class conflict are done relatively subtly; the narrative packs a considerable punch without preaching.
Not everything comes off. The play takes a while to get into its stride, and the constant allusions to The Great Gatsby become wearing. Not all of the characters are sufficiently three-dimensional, and the storytelling (however well-meaning it may be) suffers as a result. Over an hour, it becomes just a little too diffuse, and struggles to fill the space of Traverse 1.
tries a little too hard
Gillian Argo’s design is understated and witty, while Ross Nurney’s lighting is effective. Mark Gillespie’s sound design is clever, but does try a little too hard on occasion. Having sound effects for every opening of a beer can or knock on a door, proves that – as so often – a desire for extreme realism can have the opposite effect of appearing unrealistic.
There is a pleasing energy to the production, however, which commands the audience’s attention and sympathy throughout.
Running time: One hour (no interval)
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED
Tuesday 11 – Saturday 15 March 2025
Daily at 1pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
The Gaiety Theatre, Carrick St, Ayr KA7 1NU
Thursday 20 – Saturday 22 March 2025
Daily: 1pm & 6pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Alexander Tait in Kev Campbell Was He. Pic: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
ENDS
