I'm With the Band

A bland but successful indie band are facing burnout. The insecure Welsh bassist is bullied by the patronising English singer; the Northern Irish drummer is stuck in an abusive relationship. Then Scottish guitarist Barry quits. The Union suck without Barry, and Barry will never make it on his own.

To repeat, the band is called The Union. Got that?

The play zips along nicely - and noisily, structured around eleven songs with titles like 'The Referendum' as the characters bash out power chords in their practice room. Tim Price's script has nice lines: “I'm all for you getting involved in the creative process, so long as you reach the right decisions,” English Damien tells the others. Matthew Bulgo is endearing as Gruff, the bassist, though you've seen this guy—the loser whose frustration is destined to boil over ten minutes from the end—many times before.

The problem is that the allegory smothers the story. Early on, the band learn that their manager has absconded, leaving them deep in debt. As a parallel to the financial crisis, this works, but the resulting tension—can the guys pull together and write a smash hit to save themselves from prison?—doesn't take the story anywhere, and is never resolved.

This never stops being a Scottish independence play: everything must be driven by Barry's decision to leave the band, even if that makes other plotlines redundant. Ultimately, I'm With the Band offers little more than a few laughs and a moral: come on, come on, let's stick together.