Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Micky Finn, Crissy Rock, Suzanne Collins, Lesley Butler, Lenny Wood, Lynne Fitzgerald, Roy Brandon, Lindzi Germain, Ruth Laird.

There may be a very wide river that runs between Liverpool and Birkenhead, perhaps at times it may seem like a gulf or a yawning chasm but the actual differences between the two sides of the Mersey are in truth very small. Birkenhead and Liverpool are communities, communities built upon tradition, hard work and friendship and in Brain McCann’s outstanding musical play, Down Our Street, the history of Birkenhead is explored to its fullest, from the founding stones of John Laird and the thoughts of a model town and the shipyard that still bares the family name.

Through good times, the desperate periods that blighted the workforce and some of the most dangerous days that were felt by the country, Birkenhead saw them all and its people lived side by side through them all.

Throughout some of the great songs that accompanied the different changing and often challenging times that beset the town and the ship yard there was some incredibly touching instants that were enough to drive a tear from even the most heartless audience member. The moment when so many men were let go and the practice of picking and choosing men on a daily basis, the reference to the building of the Alabama and the understanding of childhood grief when a young lad finds out his best friend has died in a bombing raid on the area by the Luftwaffe during the dark days of World War Two. Lenny Wood especially should be congratulated for this distressing and poignant piece.

When the play was last performed in Liverpool at the Unity Theatre, there was the thought that it was one of those great locally written productions that in as quick as time as possible should have the chance to enjoy life on a bigger stage. As the Royal Court staff lifted the curtains for the set to be revealed, it was with a huge smile to see that the vision had been taken on and realised, a larger stage for a large at heart production. For Brian McCann a salute should be raised, for the cast a huge applause given and for all those that gave the first initial foray for the play into the world a resounding slap on the back for having got the ball rolling.

Down Our Street is a triumph of belief and sincere honesty and a wonderfully funny, enlightening, educational and sometimes heart-breaking musical.

Ian D. Hall