I Ran With the Gang

Written and directed by Liam Rudden, I Ran With The Gang tells the story of the original Bay City Roller, Alan Longmuir, from the band’s inception through their turbulent relationship with their manager to their ultimate demise. Simply set with a basic glitter curtain backdrop and a video screen showing a picture of Alan and his dates of birth and death, the story is told in the first person by a ‘young Alan’. He’s supported by a Narrator and Roller who help depict the key characters in the story of the Bay City Rollers.

The cast got off to a shaky start missing key elements of the story and having to backtrack to ensure that they were relayed. This unnerved both cast and audience, and ultimately affected the evening’s performance. Rhythm and confidence were lost, and the story seemed to lose its narrative. There was no real sense of light & shade to the storytelling, nor were we ever really given any sense of time or place. Anecdotes were either not funny in the first place or simply badly handled. The die-hard fans, though, appeared not to worry.

Michael Karl-Lewis as Young Alan is charming but lacks any real direction to be able to bring the stories to life. As Narrator, Lee Fanning fails to truly inhabit the various characters he portrays, which only further hinders the storytelling. Ross Jamieson is under-utilised but comes to the fore at the end of the piece when the drama turns to a concert. Sadly, the concert is one of a very poor tribute band.

This is clearly a very personal piece, but it’s flawed, offering neither insight to die-hard fans nor enough explanation to the uninitiated. Or perhaps it was first night nerves that meant the thread was harder to follow. And whilst I understand why there was a video montage to memorialise Alan in the middle, it was far too long, mawkish and uncomfortable. It ultimately felt like overindulgent padding.

Rather than running with the gang, I wanted to run to the hills.

Daryl Bennett