Gagarin Way

What a difference a decade makes.

In 2001, an emerging playwright premiered his first play at the Traverse. It broke records, won rave reviews and reminded people that theatre didn’t have to be safe or middle-class; it could be dangerous, edgy and political yet still feel grounded in the reality of the working class.

That playwright was Gregory Burke, and the play was Gagarin Way. Burke, of course, would go on to international acclaim, mostly for Black Watch, but Gagarin Way has also made international waves. The play, about a politically-motivated crime that goes horribly wrong, is Scottish in every sense yet accessible to any audience.

Ten years later and it's still easy to see why the play was so loved. Burke's four believable characters speak dialogue that is poetic yet truthful. The action is quick yet allows the characters moments to breathe, and the plot balances the comedic with the intense.

And yet the play itself has become a reminder of the past. It's very difficult to ignore the fact that these characters would certainly be in different circumstances in today’s economic climate. Eddie and Gary would be lucky to still have their jobs, middle management Frank would probably have taken early retirement, well-meaning Tom would have been beaten by one of a hundred fellow graduates for his low-end post and any political debate would certainly be geared more at the disappointment with New Labour and devolution politics than socialism and the fall of the Soviet Union.

Which, in a funny way, makes the play all the more enduring. This is definitely a play of its time, and because of that everything that happens feels like it comes from a long-faded voice that wouldn’t fit in today’s political and economic debate. Where once it felt raw, angry and immediate, it now feels a bit distant. Eddie and Gary’s crime is still brazen, but with the collective anger the world is feeling towards bankers, CEOs and Middle Eastern dictators, it feels rather quaint.

Rather than trying to disguise any of this, Rapture’s current tour instead focuses on the play’s greatest strength: its characters and dialogue. Director Michael Emans has cast four exceptional actors and the result is a fast and furious production that is also (mostly) very funny.

But like Gary’s laments of a political ideology long past, Gagarin Way now feels like a rallying cry from a lost time. Rapture’s production is certainly more than worth the price of admission (especially for fans of Black Watch who have yet to see Gagarin Way), but what was once an excellent example of in-yer-face theatre now feels like a good ole night out.