Review by Kate Gaul
Dundee Rep and Traverse present this lively and lovely production of “The History of Paper” by Oliver Emanuel. It’s part drama, part musical; a play with music I suppose it could be called. It started life as a radio drama; following the Scotland-based English playwright’s early death aged 43, Gareth Williams has adapted the drama into a musical love story about a relationship that blossoms following a letter of complaint. It all starts when a jilted lover (Christopher Jordan-Marshall) and a go-ahead journalist (Emma Mullen)'s exchange a note of complaint. They meet. There’s chemistry. She's new to the area and gives him her number on a scrap of paper. He is hopelessly sentimental and keeps everything yet somehow manages to lose this vital piece of paper.
A postcard, origami cranes, Chinese lanterns and confetti are retrieved from a memory box to make a paper trail marking moments in a relatable and engaging story of love and loss. The medium of paper is love’s element here. Every ticket, menu, shopping list, letter and bus ticket becomes a meaningful moment in the blossoming romance between the neighbours. Everything reminds him of her, and he wants to always be reminded of her. It's a sweet story and “A History of Paper” begins as a rom-com.
“It’s a show about all the losses we go through in life, from the minor losses, like losing your keys or a piece of paper, to the greater losses,” director Kemp says. “One of the characters is writing a book called “A History of Paper”, and on a bigger scale we’re losing paper. There might come a time in the future when paper is enormously precious.” Have a think - in a world that is becoming increasingly digital, it’s remarkable how random little pieces of paper can document a life.
It is a fertile theme, one that finds space for a song about George Wylie’s full-sized paper boat that set sail on the Clyde in 1989, a symbol of old industry and new imagination. Like the pages of a book, filled with emotions, insights and ideas, paper (an now digital paper-like tablets) organises our thoughts, defines us and carries us into the future.
We don’t ever learn the characters names – they are just He and She. But these characters skilfully slip in and out of character, storyteller, dramatic dialogue and duet. First romance to heart wrenching and devastating loss – when tragedy strikes the man, he loses the capacity to speak. Musical director Gavin Whitworth provides a cheery presence and accompaniment on the piano and occasionally adds to the vocals as the drama reaches its height.
The chemistry between the actors and engagement with the audience as well as the overall likeability of the production is what gives the play such a surprising and triggering twist. When it comes, audiences cry out and tears flow – I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. “The History of Paper” has an unexpected power with plenty of contemplate inside what at first appears as a pleasurable rom-com.
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