Take Me Home County Road | Royal Court Liverpool

As the old cliche goes, you only live once, and it’s never too late to do the things that bring you real happiness in life; be that chasing a career dream, finding the love of your life you thought had long since eluded you, or rekindling the flame of a marriage that has become stagnant of late. The whole notion of second chances is what drives this new piece by Adam McCoy, as we follow 40-something year old former professional singer Shelly, downtrodden, seemingly stuck in a marriage that had long passed its sell-by-date, and life just seeming to have lost the fire that it once had. 

That is until an opportunity to appear on a new ITV talent show The Next Big Thing presents itself, and a chance of a route back into life as a performer, not to mention the chance to be on the telly. Of course this is not achieved without the help of her close friends and family, themselves also seeking fresh starts in life, with similarly aged Margy getting herself back out on the dating market, and gay bartender Anthony looking to become the first in his family to attend university. These subplots are well woven into the narrative, but never in and of themselves detract from the main action, rather enhance it and make for well balanced storytelling. There’s also no denying that this is a massively crowd pleasing show, with hits by Shania Twain, Patsy Cline and Whitney Houston among others making appearances, all used to terrific effect to drive the plot forward.

Like many exponents of Liverpool’s Royal Court, this new work has Merseyside written all over it, from its title referencing the major Walton thoroughfare, to the characters, humour palate, and general sense of humility and heart synonymous with the area, of which there is plenty on display. From the word go we are presented with unashamed, unadulterated cheese, to rapturous response from the fervently local audience, but with this sense of silliness additionally comes a great deal of candour and vulnerability, especially when it comes to Shelly’s longing for better days gone by, as well as still coming to terms with her dearly departed father. There is never a sense of lull throughout, as the content and pacing of this new story are both marvellously well considered, McCoy clearly having excelled in his professional writing debut.

It has to be said that he is also no slouch as an actor or singer, as his performance as Anthony was terrific as well, starting as a young lad who lacks self assuredness, and ultimately whipping the crowd into a frenzy as he donned a pair of sparkly boots and regaled us with a rip-roaring rendition of Man, I Feel Like a Woman. Likewise we got no shortage of charm from Keddy Sutton as ditzy but genuinely sweet Margy, and Eithne Brown was the perfect elder stateswoman as Shelly’s protective mother Joan, herself also clearly grabbing life by the cajones and not letting go.

It was Helen Carter’s lead performance as Shelly though that will no doubt have had people talking long after leaving the theatre, giving arguably the strongest vocal performance of the evening, with her stirring take on the anthemic I Will Always Love You in her character’s audition scene rendering us all speechless, and proceeding to take the roof off as she finishes her final notes. There’s a real maturity with how she brings Shelly to life, we feel every iota of emotion from her as she tackles the crossroads at which Shelly finds herself, and her interactions with her co-stars feel sincere and steeped in lived history.

There was one thing that was niggling at me a tad though, which is that the titular reference to the famed John Denver hit Country Roads never really seemed to make itself clear through the story, only via the final performance of said song in the final moments. As a story that shows us the very best of what it means to not only be a scouser, but more widely to be human, I failed to pick up on any connections with country music safe for the pun we get from the title by dropping a single letter, which did lend itself to a touch of confusion.

This aside though, I don’t think there is any doubt that local audiences will delight in this decidedly daft yet grounded story that wears its heart on its sleeve, and maybe even decide for themselves that it’s not too late to live life to the fullest.

Take Me Home County Road plays at the Royal Court in Liverpool until 29th August - tickets and more information can be found here.

★★★★☆ (4*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Andrew AB Photography