Play 'Letters to Morrissey' by Gary McNair at Traverse, Edinburgh

Gary McNair’s play about a lonely misfit’s one-sided correspondence with the Smiths frontman makes for a touching hour.

It runs until 27th of August.

"This isn’t fan mail, it’s correspondence,” declares the earnest teenager to a bouncer after a Morrissey concert at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom. All fans think their relationship with their idol is unique, but for the teenager at the heart of Gary McNair’s first-person monologue, fandom is a matter of life and death. When his school counsellor tells him to find someone he can talk to, the boy chooses the singer once voted the second most famous cultural icon after David Attenborough. His appeal? “He dared us not to fit in.” So begins an entirely one-sided correspondence."

3/5* review in The Guardian:

Letters to Morrissey review – this charming fan's teenage tribute - The Guardian
by Lyn Gardner

Regards,
FWD.

---

Also:

Letters to Morrissey, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, review - The Independent
This solo piece about hero worship and The Smiths' frontman by Gary McNair follows on from his Fringe hits 'Gary Robertson is Not a Standup Comedian' and 'A Gambler's Guide to Dying'
by David Pollock (3 of 5 stars)

 

[Quando quando quando]

Gary McNair’s play about a lonely misfit’s one-sided correspondence with the Smiths frontman makes for a touching hour.

View attachment 41980

It runs until 27th of August.

"This isn’t fan mail, it’s correspondence,” declares the earnest teenager to a bouncer after a Morrissey concert at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom. All fans think their relationship with their idol is unique, but for the teenager at the heart of Gary McNair’s first-person monologue, fandom is a matter of life and death. When his school counsellor tells him to find someone he can talk to, the boy chooses the singer once voted the second most famous cultural icon after David Attenborough. His appeal? “He dared us not to fit in.” So begins an entirely one-sided correspondence."

3/5* review in The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/05/letters-to-morrissey-review-gary-mcnair-smiths

Regards,
FWD.

I read some of the comments in the Guardian below the review.
One of them says: My uncle still sends letters to Syd Barrets Mum.

 

[Vesper Nocturne]

I read some of the comments in the Guardian below the review.
One of them says: My uncle still sends letters to Syd Barrets Mum.

 

[Famous when dead]

3/5* The Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...issey-edinburgh-festival-review-a7880706.html

Regards,
FWD.

 

[countthree]

Everything Morrissey related receives 3 or less stars in The Guardian. Fake liberals who see the world in black and white.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

He's awesome. Absolutely brilliant.

 

[Eric Hartman]

He's awesome. Absolutely brilliant.

 

[gordyboy9]

good photo behind him,anybody know what the black and white one is,know its a long shot.

 

[Famous when dead]

good photo behind him,anybody know what the black and white one is,know its a long shot.

Had me for a second, but it's actually MIM!

Regards,
FWD.

 

[Anonymous]

good photo behind him,anybody know what the black and white one is,know its a long shot.

f***ing hell mate you can't recognise Meat is Murder. Duh

 

[gordyboy9]

and I'm sure you could.cock.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

"he dared us not to fit in". i love that! i wish i could see this! and here i was going to call my novel "letters to morrissey" (and then pointedly not dedicate it to him because he never responded ).

 

[The Wild Turkey]

"he dared us not to fit in". i love that! i wish i could see this! and here i was going to call my novel "letters to morrissey" (and then pointedly not dedicate it to him because he never responded ).

Oh ya like dares, do ya? How's about writing a little Turkeys book called All The Young Turkeys. Little Turkeys are not represented enough in literature and it would be a great boost to their self esteem.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

Oh ya like dares, do ya? How's about writing a little Turkeys book called All The Young Turkeys. Little Turkeys are not represented enough in literature and it would be a great boost to their self esteem.

that's because turkeys are not very romantic or operatic subjects, though! i mean, maybe if they had two floppy ears and a lil cottontail and little paws they hopped around on they might their way into great books more often. i dont think i can help you out. i mean, i dont know what it's like to be a turkey. why dont you write that book with your amazing turkey brain?!

 

[Quando quando quando]

Oh ya like dares, do ya? How's about writing a little Turkeys book called All The Young Turkeys. Little Turkeys are not represented enough in literature and it would be a great boost to their self esteem.

Just wondering, do turkeys have any life at all in Turkey?
Or is it a sad case of turkey meat is murder too?
At least we have one wild turkey here, sharing his wild turkey music which is nice and it is the funniest turkey I ever came across!

 

[countthree]

"he dared us not to fit in". i love that! i wish i could see this! and here i was going to call my novel "letters to morrissey" (and then pointedly not dedicate it to him because he never responded ).

The title of your novel was already an inspiration ... and it wasn't written!

 

[Quando quando quando]

The title of your novel was already an inspiration ... and it wasn't written!

I agree.
Titles of songs, albums or books, or chapters can be a really inspiring starting point from where a story, a song or book starts even if there is nothing more then that initially.
I suppose even Moz uses this method, I mean not always but just as one of the ways to create songs.

 

[I_Am_A_Disco_Dancer]

More reviews -

Edinburgh review: Letters to Morrissey - What's on Stage
by Matt Trueman (4 out of 5 stars)

"Letters to Morrissey is, at one level, another piece of fan mail. McNair captures just what makes – or rather, what made – Morrissey so alluring. You see the singer through his adoring eyes: this beautiful, fey young man, still masculine, still tough. The show's a fine piece of pop criticism; an examination of Morrissey as a role model – working class anti-hero, pub corner poet, a different sort of male role model."

[The review notes that the play runs until August 27 at the Traverse Theatre . It then runs at HOME Manchester from 12 to 16 September.]

Letters to Morrissey review at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh – ‘angst-ridden and sentimental’ - The Stage
by Fergus Morgan

"You don't have to love the Smiths to love McNair's show, but it probably helps; Letters to Morrissey is semi-ironically infused with the band's familiar maudlin mopey-ness, and McNair himself embodies a softly-spoken sentimentality throughout."

Letters to Morrissey - BroadwayBaby
by Paul F. Cockburn (4 stars)

"What is fascinating about McNair’s apparent belief—in Morrissey being someone whom his teenage self could relate to and seek guidance from—is how universal that searching for support and meaning actually is. Even though I’m someone who usually thinks of Morrissey only in terms of “flagrant narcissist” or “pretentious prat”, McNair’s solid foundation is the authenticity of his story’s emotional core; a reminder, certainly, “that other things are possible”, even if the reality seems that “some labels will just stick”, no matter what you do."

 

[The Wild Turkey]

that's because turkeys are not very romantic or operatic subjects, though! i mean, maybe if they had two floppy ears and a lil cottontail and little paws they hopped around on they might their way into great books more often. i dont think i can help you out. i mean, i dont know what it's like to be a turkey. why dont you write that book with your amazing turkey brain?!

What are ya giving me here? This isn't gonna help the self esteem of the little Turkeys.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Just wondering, do turkeys have any life at all in Turkey?
Or is it a sad case of turkey meat is murder too?
At least we have one wild turkey here, sharing his wild turkey music which is nice and it is the funniest turkey I ever came across!

Oddly enough, there are no Turkeys in the country of Turkey. Another odd fact. All the citizens in the country of Hungary are very well feed. It can't be explained.