Standing in the Shadows of Giants
★★★☆☆ Heartfelt
Traverse (Venue 15): Fri 25 Jul – Sun 24 Aug 2025
Review by Hugh Simpson
Show business excess and hard-won personal discovery coincide in Standing in the Shadows of Giants, the co-production between the Traverse and The Hale.
It would normally be entirely unfair to introduce a writer/performer by saying who they are related to. However, in this case, it’s kind of the point. Writer-performer Lucie Barât is the older sister of Carl, one of the two frontmen of The Libertines.
Lucie Barât in Standing in the Shadows of Giants. Pic: Beth Chalmers.
They were, of course, the hugely successful Noughties band who were as famous for their apparently hedonistic lifestyle as for their melodic garage rock. Lucie’s aspiring acting career was overshadowed by her association to the band, as well as by her own demons. And – as is made clear from the start – this isn’t a Libertines expose, but concentrates on her struggles, with drink, pills, the sexism of the creative industries and downright misogyny.
The showbiz stories are thoroughly involving and disarmingly honest, even with some names changed to protect identities. They’re not greatly changed, however, generally being of the ‘Borlando Shloom’ type. This is reflective of a general air of friendly scattiness that is projected, although there is nothing slapdash about a piece that has been effectively put together by Barât and directed with verve and variety by Bryony Shanahan.
striking
At times there is a tendency to underline things too much, as if trying to assure us of the dramatic importance of what is going on. Amelia Jane Hankin’s stage design is striking, but allied to mark Distin Webster’s lighting changes, it draws attention to itself just a little too much.
Lucie Barât in Standing in the Shadows of Giants. Pic: Beth Chalmers.
Similarly, Alexandra Faye Braithwaite and Russell Ditchfield’s sound design can distract. The parts of the production that approach ‘gig theatre’ never quite convince. The backing music, like Carl’s voice, is of necessity pre-recorded, and the music (which isn’t as prominent as you might expect) never has the impact it might. Indeed, the quietest, most reflective, most personal parts of the story are the most convincing elements.
It is also slightly too long and meandering. There is a section right at the end that – however heartfelt and politically necessary it may be – does not cohere dramatically with the rest of the piece as it might.
Overall, however, this is an involving, personal, well constructed piece of theatre.
Running time: One hour and 15 Minutes (no interval).
Traverse Theatre (Traverse 2), 10 Cambridge St, EH1 2ED. (Venue 15).
Friday 25 July – Sunday 24 August 2025.
Daily (Not Mon): Various times (see website for details)
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Book here on the Traverse Website.
The Hale website: www.the-hale.com
Lucie Barât in Standing in the Shadows of Giants. Pic: Beth Chalmers.
ENDS
