Edinburgh Fringe 2016
Low Down
A Johnny Cash tribute artist who tells us of his story alongside that of a man whose music he came to, late in life before attending the indyref rally, getting arrested and sounding uncannily like the man himself. This is a story rich in what happens with theatre putting two people together that would never have been thought of as bedfellows.
Review
We enter and Greg Moncur is standing with his back to us in a ridiculous wig. The wig gets ditched, the songs get sung and off we go on a story that tells us why a guy from Glasgow loves the music of a man from the US of A. it takes us through his formative years until he attends a rally that has him arrested and facing a Kris Kristofferson fan who like him shares uncanny similarities – or is it messages from his hero.
Gregory Moncur sings like Cash, acts like Cash and if all you want is to hear the songs then he gets 3 or 4 classics out there that has people howling in their seats. In amongst the nods to his hero we get a very good scripted story about a young guy from Glasgow making his way in the world that motors the narrative and works very well.
This is more therefore than a tribute act. The theatricality of it works and we get some storyline that is just great to listen to. I loved the scenes with his police Kristofferson fan and when they end the show singing together it is a treat.
Theatrically there are plenty of musical interludes and theatre arts to make it work and I left trying to find some of it on Spotify.
Moncur is a very engaging stage presence whose Glasgwegian burr seduces you into the story. At times there were a few areas where lines were slipped or focus was a wee bit lost but overall it was more than a decent fist. Quids In therefore, as a Scottish company get over the line in terms of it being a great show and the numbers in the theatre that night may well have been attracted by the voice of a legend but they left with so much more.