Midsummer

Traverse, Edinburgh, Fri 24 Oct–Wed 12 Nov

NEW WORK

Edinburgh might not be Manhattan, but surely it merits a love story of its own. It is, after all, a romantic city. Step forward David Greig and Gordon McIntyre to fill this void. The dramatist and rock musician are collaborating on a thought-provoking romcom with music, and a hint of irony here and there.

This is the story of two people who meet up in an Edinburgh café and drift into a romantic weekend. But we get to hear about it from their conversation afterwards, at a chance meeting. ‘It reverses the regular courtship thing because they’ve already slept together,’ says McIntyre, ‘so the question becomes will they or will they not get together.’

Greig speaks of a contrast between realism and romance; this piece, he tells me, has both. ‘It’s in a dialogue with romantic comedy,’ he says. ‘I mean it is a play about a romance, but it constantly steps out of that and says real life isn’t like that, it’s ugly and messy and boring and difficult, but if it was a romantic comedy, it might be a bit like this, so you get both – it’s a sneaky way of having your cake and eating it.’

He adds: ‘The usual musicals are often about big subjects, people discovering the atom and so on, but ours is about two people in the middle of life facing pretty standard questions. But out of that I hope comes something pretty funny and tender and sweet. I hope there’s depth to it, but that comes from a pretty gentle place.’

More: Theatre, Previews (Theatre), David Greig, Gordon McIntyre, Midsummer, New Work

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