Review: Putting the Band Back Together, Trinity

I’ve always thought the recorder was the most underrated instrument in a rock band…

Putting The Band Back Together works in two parts. It offers the chance to be in the house band, in which case you turn up a few hours early to have a sound check and run through a bunch of songs on an instrument of your choice. Otherwise, you turn up at half seven and just enjoy the show.

There’s a miscommunication about when the workshop is due to start, so several of us arrive half an hour later than the rest – but we’re welcomed with open arms. As they don’t have a spare saxophone, my limited musical skill is put aside and I’m transported back to year six and given a recorder, that classic instrument we all know is at the heart of every legendary track. We’re ushered to our places.

We’re in a band now.

The hospitality offered by Unfolding Theatre (The Futureheads’ Ross Millard, plus Alex Elliott, Annie Rigby and Kat Pierce) couldn’t be better. With tea and coffee if you’re early enough, they remember everyone’s names, are non-stop helpful and make us laugh all the way through.

The call out for the band is open to anyone of any musical skill, designed to encourage those who haven’t played in years to dust off their instruments and have another go. This could be cause for serious tonal concern, but the crew are so accommodating, and though they go through the songs with us carefully several times, you get the feeling that if you were to do a wrong note, or even sing the whole thing out of tune, they wouldn’t really mind. In this show, it really is the taking part that counts.

The show itself is a lovely idea but has very little dramaturgical glue. It attempts to evoke the yearning so many of us feel to go back to an old musical instrument. It’s about the factors stopping us – the fear of not being good enough, of not being able to find the time. It isn’t subtle in the message it sends across, and it could do without the movement sections which physicalize emotions like in a badly directed school play. But the clumsy directness can be forgiven for the real reason behind the creation of the show.

When Mark Lloyd was diagnosed with cancer, he decided he wanted to get his old band back together, so he and a bunch of his friends decided to create this show. It’s partly about Mark, and partly about the universal longing to be a part of something, to make some noise.

My friend overestimates his guitar ability so moves over to vocals, with no complaint from the team even though they’ve just made the effort to go and get their spare guitar and unpack it in the middle of the rehearsal. The chords are simple, and they continuously check in to make sure everyone’s okay, offering simpler versions if anyone is struggling. As this is a touring show, they perform with a different group of instruments every night.

This evening we have three acoustic guitars, two bass, drums, cajón, keyboard, recorder, two singers and an accordion. It works surprisingly well. The lyrics have a habit of slipping into being cheesy, but the songs themselves are catchy, and most importantly, easy enough to play without simply sounding repetitive.

Putting The Band Back Together is good fun, and particularly so if you volunteer to be in the house band. It’s not a world class piece of gig-theatre, but it’s made with a whole load of heart, and it certainly has the potential to encourage someone in the audience to dust off an old instrument, and to make some noise.

Putting The Band Back Together was at Trinity on Friday, April 21 as part of the venue’s IGNiTE season. For upcoming Trinity events, visit www.3ca.org.uk/whats-on