THEATRE REVIEW: Eight Mile High, Royal Court, Liverpool

Jul 23 2008 by Laura Davis, Liverpool Daily Post

Andrew Schofield in Eight Miles High at the Royal Court _220

IT’S the year of the Gibson Flying V, protests in Paris and Washington, the end of the Yardbirds and the beginning of Led Zeppelin; The Beatles’ White Album, John Lennon’s divorce, and the final episode of The Monkees.

In a field somewhere outside Liverpool, a cultural revolution is taking place as music fans from all walks of life gather to spread their message of peace and generally have a groovy time.

Meanwhile, something of a cultural revolution is taking place at the Royal Court, where the stage has been covered in turf and blossoming branches poke out from the wings.

Written by Little Voice creator Jim Cartwright, this is neither a musical nor a play – more a series of interlinked set pieces taking place around a rock concert.

Those expecting much of a plot would leave disappointed, but the characters are interesting enough to sustain momentum and the band,

made up by those actors not currently involved in the action, talented enough to play at a real festival without all the theatrical razzmatazz.

There’s the unsophisticated Welsh panel beater with his poetry-writing friend, the student struggling to find her political voice, the Hells Angel in oil- stained trousers and studded leather gloves and of course the eager capitalist waiting to take advantage.

Andrew Schofield plays the toothless hippie as a Shakes- pearean clown, bringing the lyrical script to life with perfect comic timing, later impressing the audience with a carbon copy of Lennon singing A Day in the Life.

Ethnie Brown is touching as Jean, a housewife who has accidentally stowed away in a psychedelic Morris motor, while also showing impressive vocal ability.

It’s not just the drugs-addled minds that are eight miles high in this story but also the false optimism of its characters, who imagine a year 2000 without war, destruction and any need for bra burning.

And if the ending got a bit preachy, the musical encore was enough to put the swing back into the sixties.