Missed Connections

Throwing us head-first into the community, we are quickly introduced to the dozen-or-so cast and their characters, as they enchant us with their opening number. The sweetness and heart is clear to see - what more could we want? - yet as so many stories do, heartbreak is on the horizon. As a businessman reveals that the land has been sold, and the bar must be closed forever by the end of the day, a community rallies. Not to save it, not to fight against the big corporations, but to remember, to pause and to reflect on what the bar has meant. Following each character individually, we see who they are, their dreams, their hopes and their fears, and watch as the time ticks down, but the stories continue to build.

Wow. Just wow. The creative team behind this show need immediate praise for the wonderful piece of theatre they have crafted; one that instantly brings you as the audience into this environment, as if you’re sitting in the bar yourself, watching the antics play out around you. Not only is the concept an execution fantastic, but the play is staged and paced extraordinarily well too. Not five minutes in, the grim reality dawns on our company, providing as much time as possible for us to see and feel with each character individually, no mean feat for a production only an hour long.

This is primarily achieved by giving the vast majority of the company their own song; the chance for so many to express themselves and their emotions so clearly, and each doing so to great effect. And beyond then, the background acting, mannerisms and expressions build complex and well-developed characters, who I wish we could spend more time with. Maggie, our bar manager, is sassy and fun, unafraid to put patrons in place when needed to. Earl, an old-fashioned patron continually dolling out unwanted advice and comments to the rest shows he has a heart, one that’s equally-pained by the impending closure despite his rough exterior. The budding couples forming, the old and new members of the community, and the bar staff who watch it all, not a single character is overlooked. Remarkable, but very well done.

The staging is more complex than your average Fringe set-up, but used exceptionally. Watching the bar be built at the beginning is as exciting as it is smooth, and the jarringly-quick breakdown at the end quickly brings the reality home. Whilst some issues with sound are present, often due to the sheer volume of people on stage, this never takes you out of the plot, and simply mic’ing certain cast members for particular parts would go a long way to fix this. But I am nitpicking here, because finding flaws in something that makes you smile endlessly for an hour is a particularly difficult thing to do, even after multiple viewings.

For those of us who have enjoyed such hits as Come From Away and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, this musical is nothing short of unmissable. The cast and creative team that have assembled this simple yet heartfelt production have created something that is akin to a warm hug from those that you love. Finding myself thinking about those friends scattered across the world whom I miss, this production strikes right to the core of who we are, and what community really means; there is a reason I saw this show twice in its final two days.

To audiences who saw this show, I hope you felt as similarly at home as I did. To those who didn’t, you have no idea what you missed. And to the team at LATI who not only created this show but brought it so far, to a small room in Edinburgh, I have three points. Firstly, bring this production back - more people need to see this, whether at Fringe, a tour or a residency, but give me somewhere I can go to watch it again! Second, I sincerely hope you are working on a cast recording because those songs have not got out of my head. And finally, thank you for the experience. Missed Connections has a bright future ahead and I am hopefully awaiting its return.