Theatre review: The Eye of the Storm, King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
IT’S thought that there are almost three-quarters of a millIon young carers in the UK today; and Emmie, the heroine of this award-winning new musical from Theatr na nOg of South Wales, is one of them. Emmie lives in a mobile home park with her mum, Angela, who has serious mental health problems. She is 15, and has already been caring for Angela for seven years; but somehow she keeps it all together – the school work, the medications, the cruel mood-swings, the crises and the constant effort to keep the caravan clean and tidy.
The Eye of the Storm, King’s Theatre, Edinburgh ****
Yet Emmie is also a girl with dreams. She wants to become a meteorological physicist, studying the tornados that are her hobby and obsession; and in writer-director Geinor Styles’s exuberant musical play – with songs and lyrics by Amy Wadge, all performed by a formidable cast of eight who double as the live onstage band - we watch her find a way to make her dream come true despite many setbacks, including the active hostility of her embittered physics teacher. Rosey Cale sings like an angel and acts like a true star in the central role of Emmie; and with the rest of the company offering a whole range of fine voices and powerful music-making in support, Styles brings this hard-hitting and necessary piece of 21st century popular theatre to an upbeat conclusion that may be just a shade starry-eyed, but that young Emmie has earned, every hard step of the way.
JOYCE MCMILLAN