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Michael Cox finds little to laugh at in this new production by the National Theatre of Scotland.
There might be a great play to be found in Roberto Cossa’s La Nona, a massive hit in Argentina. Unfortunately, ‘great’ is not a word that can be used in any context for the National Theatre of Scotland’s 70s Glaswegian-set Yer Granny.
Granny is 100 years old, and she cannot stop eating. With the family-run chip shop bankrupt and barely a scrap of food left in the house, she’s literally eaten the family into poverty. The rest of the family is desperate and are willing to do just about anything to survive.
A set-up for an over-the-top farce, but the laughs are as scarce as food in the family’s flat. There isn’t one original idea to be found in the characters: a proud husband deluded with dreams of grandeur who’s horrified by the thought of needing public assistance, a starving artist (a supposed composer here) who refuses to work, an innocent-minded young woman who stumbles into the drug and sex trade. One can’t fault the cast—they’re game for doing just about anything—but when the characters elicit little to no sympathy, the stakes are so miniscule that the occasional chuckle seems hard-won.
Maybe things have been lost in translation. Douglas Maxwell, who has written this version, offers snappy enough lines but nothing scores any major points, and director Graham McLaren has created staging that is functional enough but offers little flare, especially when one considers how ridiculous everything is.
It’s one thing to strive for heights but not quite make it; it is another thing to lumber through something lazily and expect points simply because the deck is stacked with great people, all of whom have done far superior work than what’s on display here. Here’s a Granny that shouldn’t just be shoved off the bus but under it.
Yer Granny tours until July 4.
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