Sometimes a musical arrives that doesn’t just tell a story, but takes you by the hand and guides you through the memory itself.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s production of Fun Home, taking place at York Medical Society, does just that. It’s not so much a show you watch as one you live through, a kaleidoscope of moments and secrets drawn straight from Alison Bechdel’s remarkable graphic memoir.
Fun Home is at York Medical Society from Wednesday 10 to Friday 19 September.
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015, Fun Home is no ordinary all-singing, all-dancing affair. It opens not with glitter or jazz hands, but with a coffin lurking in the room. Therefore, from the outset, we know this family tale is going to be eccentric, uncompromising and unafraid of exploring the darkest corners of living. Yet what makes this production so captivating is the way it balances that heaviness with humour, intimacy and flashes of joy.
At its heart, the musical shows Alison at three stages of life: Small Alison (Hattie Wells), Middle Alison (Libby Greenhill) and Older Alison (Claire Morley). It’s a device that could feel jarring in lesser hands, but here the continuity works seamlessly. The three feel like facets of the same person, their quirks and wide smiles perfectly aligned. Witnessing the trio was like watching someone sketching in real time, allowing the perfect portrait of a person to emerge.
Wells, as Small Alison, is nothing short of a revelation. West End worthy in both voice and presence, she anchors the family scenes with warmth and wide-eyed truth. Her duets with her stage brothers Christian (Oliver Smith) and John (Teddy Alexander) bring buckets of energy, including the children’s number ‘Fun Home’ which offered a burst of infectious joy.
Greenhill, as college-aged Alison, delivers her queer awakening in ‘Changing My Major’ with flawless comic timing and honesty, bouncing delightfully off Britney Brett as Joan, her first real romance. Meanwhile, Morley’s Older Alison sketches from the side-lines, literally and metaphorically, her eccentric narration tinged with both wry humour and sorrow. Her acting performance lingers, like the aftertaste of each memory portrayed.
But if Alison is the lens, her father Bruce is the prism. Dale Vaughan gives an extraordinary performance, magnetic, controlling, charming and deeply flawed. He embodies Bruce’s contradictions – a man capable of tenderness and cruelty, desperate to shape his daughter while unable to reconcile his own truths. His relationship with Small Alison is especially moving; in ‘Ring of Keys’ we watch her joyful awakening whilst he quietly crumbles with the weight of his own concealed life.
Helen, Alison’s mother, has perhaps the most thankless role in the piece – forced to carry the emotional toll of Bruce’s secrets while keeping up appearances. Catherine Foster plays her with stoic fragility, delivering her performance with controlled precision. When she finally confides in Alison, the rawness is gutting – not just a mother unburdening herself, but passing the weight of heartbreak onto her child. Completing the cast is the multi-roling Cain Branton, often filling the shadows around Bruce’s life, where perhaps Helen could never succeed.
Director Robert Readman and musical director Natalie Walker, have crafted a seamless and immersive evening of entertainment. This is a one-act show offering no break: just as Alison was, we were trapped inside the ‘Fun Home’ unable to escape. The in-the-round staging makes it feel like we’re literally sitting inside the Bechdel house. Every corner of the quirky York Medical Society space is used and every audience member drawn into the action.
Without microphones and using only natural lighting, the piece has an organic quality. Whilst some harmonies may not have always found their feet, Walker was always ready to ensure the cast were well accompanied, single handedly delivering this moving score by Jeanine Tesori.
The storytelling unfolds through multiple mediums: diary entries, telephone calls, monologues, reflective sketches. Alison’s art literally shapes the narrative, as Older Alison freezes moments, captions memories, and watches herself grow up like a shadow trailing her younger selves. The effect is dreamlike, as themes of queerness, shame, repression and generational trauma run throughout, giving the piece its raw power, whilst still enabling for nuggets of comedy gold to emerge.
The pacing of this production was judged to perfection, allowing moments of stillness to ache before rushing back into the chaos of the family’s funeral home business. There was no scene-to-scene delivery, a non-linear approach as we twisted through the story. It was art within art, a life sketched into theatre, laid bare in front of us.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s Fun Home is a bold, intimate, and deeply affecting piece of storytelling. This production may be set in a funeral home, but it’s brimming with life and running until Friday 19 September. Find your tickets, starting from £15, to the Fun Home here.
