No Scotland, No Party: We Have A Dream Review | Ellen Leslie
★★★★★
I didn’t expect to find myself welling up at a play that has ‘No Scotland, No Party’ as its opening song, but the Fringe is full of surprises!
We Have A Dream follows best friends Tam (Dylan Frew), Stevie (Robbie Hall), Cammy (Adam Edgar) and Jamesy (Jordan Monks) as they follow Scotland to Germany to see them play in the Euros. The gang have been friends since they were 17, and now they’re almost in their thirties, they’re looking forward to a lad’s holiday. But their idyllic view of watching Scotland in the Euros is soon shattered when the tickets are ruined by a leaking bottle of Fairy Liquid in Tam’s bag. The small cracks in their friendship widen as the men realise how different they have become in recent years, and their personal struggles threaten to blow their friendship apart.
Of course, there’s lots of football references, and after the opening scene where the rowdy bunch reminisce on some of Scotland’s greatest (and worst) football moments, you might wonder what you’ve gotten yourself in for. But as the play progresses, the focus moves towards the men’s personal struggles. They are each dealing with their own pain: drug abuse, illness, relationship problems, and anxiety about a new baby. These storylines humanize the characters, and are dealt with sensitively. In true Scottish fashion, the men are serious when they need to be, but aren’t afraid to take the mick out of each other.
All the actors put on such strong performances, delivering their lines with a casualness that feels completely natural. They have great chemistry together, and their humour and comedic timing is spot on, earning plenty of laughs from the audience (although disappointingly, they did not appreciate Tam mistaking the Netherlands for Dundee United). Andrea (Laura Doppel), the German woman they meet in a bar, fits into the group well, and while she helps Cammy by encouraging him to follow his dreams, I’m very glad she is fully fleshed out, and not just there to “save” the men.
Male friendships are rarely discussed in detail in popular media, so seeing it on stage is also refreshing. Awareness of men’s mental health is on the rise, so it’s good to see characters that men can relate to be vulnerable on stage. Similarly, the different life paths that people take in their 20s is often not discussed. There’s huge societal pressure to be successful, but as this play shows, there’s no set timeline to achieve your goals.
On the surface, We Have A Dream is a funny play about football. But at its heart, it’s a story of male friendship, grief, and sacrifice filled with poignant moments. It is a show that deserves a life outside the Fringe: its comedic value and heartfelt storylines are bound to resonate with audiences across Scotland.
We Have A Dream will be performed at theSpace @ Symposium Hall until 15 August as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
By Ellen Leslie
