Showing @ Leith Hub, Edinburgh, on Thu 19 – Sat 21 Jun @ times vary
Citadel Arts Group have been using living memories to inspire plays about Edinburgh for many years. For their latest, Leith At War, they have taken over the disused Job Centre on Leith Walk to tell the story of a plucky Leith family in the desperate days of 1939.
We join the family in their living room, a well-prepared period set whose focal points are wireless, stove and table. The war has reduced them to grandfather and grandchildren, with the middle generation conspicuous by their absence. Mother is away with relatives in the country while father and uncle are overseas fighting, yet a silent presence is marked in the shape of two photos on the sideboard.
Life retains a semblance of normality. Grandson Eck terrorises the neighbours, big sister Frankie frets about boys and grandad reminisces with the songs of his youth. But Leith At War deftly weaves this fictional family into real events, like the bombing of the HMS Southampton at anchor in Rosyth.
Young Eck is expertly played by Angus Skakle, who delivers cheekiness, comedy and childish tantrums with confidence and charm. There are solid performances from the other cast members too – Andrea McKenzie as Frankie, Mark Kydd as the grandad and Rob Flett as the dashing American who Frankie inevitably falls for.
The period cultural references in Liz Hare’s production – Eck’s love of Bruce Wayne, Frankie’s crush on Clark Gable – are well thought out and judiciously employed. For locals of a certain vintage, there are also knowing Edinburgh references, like Frankie’s insistence she won’t end up at Duncan’s making Walnut Whips. The use of Scots dialect is laudable too but it does seem forced in places, an unwelcome distraction.
It’s heartening to see the long derelict Job Centre on Leith Walk used in this way and a petition distributed at half-time shows the appetite for it to continue. Leith At War, and the accompanying photo exhibition, is a worthy and smart use of the space.