Apr 28, 20243 min read

Review: This Is Memorial Device (Riverside Studios)

Review by Daz Gale

⭐️⭐️

As anyone who has had the misfortune to have a conversation with me will tell you, “Theatre is subjective”. I say it until I’m blue in the face and there is a reason for it. As I looked around Riverside Studios to see an enraptured audience, I wondered what it was that wasn’t quite connecting with me. In situations like that, it’s worth looking at a show both objectively and personally, and that is the device I’ll use to memorialise This is Memorial Device – but would this show prove memorable, for better or worse?

Based on David Keenan’s novel from 2017, the stage adaptation of This Is Memorial Device premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022 and now heads to Riverside Studios in London, following a Scottish tour, Set in Airdrie in the 1980s, it tells the story of fictional post-punk band Memorial Device, charting their origin and cult-like status in a story with some strange twists and turns.

Adapted for the stage by Graham Eatough, I expected a universal look at how memories of music can unite us and evoke memories and emotions. That feeling should be universal, but somehow got lost in translation in this retelling. While audience members who remember the movement and can relate to it through their lived-in experiences will surely have gotten a lot more out of the show than I did, I struggled to connect to the material at all in a show I found deeply inaccessible if you weren’t already familiar with the text or the scene it was exploring.

With jokes about Airdrie causing fits of laughter from audience members, I could see why this has done so well and been met with such critical acclaim on its Scottish tour. However, so many of the lines and punchlines flew over my head due to my own lack of a personal connection. It may be noble to aim a show such as this at a niche audience, however, you should never forget about those who may not be as familiar, and expect them to go into the show with a certain level of knowledge or have done their homework is not a realistic expectation.

I greatly admired Anna Orton’s set design and Graham Eatough’s direction which brought a stage full of props to life through an inspired use of mannequins, bringing the story and the fictional band to life. The inclusion of music from Stephen Pastel and Gavin Thomson also lifted the piece, though these moments were too few and far between, with the closing inclusion of Memorial Device’s signature anthem a step too far on the strange side for my personal taste.

The show is solely performed by Paul Higgins in person as he controls the stage as Ross Raymond, initially welcoming the audience in an understated fashion before the story unfolds. A consummate professional and clearly a talented performer, he does the best he can with the material and provides a captivating watch, leaving me longing to connect to the material more. Through a mix of photos, videos, vox-pops, and even slides, it's creative albeit disjointed narrative with Higgns’ performance the one consistency.

It is clear that I was not the target audience for This Is Memorial Device. While I could appreciate what it was trying to do and admired how others around me were clearly connecting to the story, too often I struggled to follow the story, never quite knowing what was going on. While the story spoke about Memorial Device’s love for songs about nothing, I couldn’t help feeling that was what this story was about as well and longed for a bit more substance. Had I had more of a connection to the material, this would undoubtedly have been deserving of a higher rating, so please don’t take my word for it as you may respond to it better than I did, particularly if you have a personal connection to the area, the music or the story itself. For me, unfortunately, this is one show that didn’t stay in my memory for long.