The Pieman Cometh review by Pat Byrne

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The Pieman Cometh review by Pat Byrne

The Pieman Cometh by Bryan Jackson and David Belcher directed by Frank Miller.

‘There’s more to the pie than meets the eye’

Jim and I went through to Edinburgh to catch Bryan Jackson and David Belcher’s play at Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I’d heard a lot of positive comments when it played at OranMor in Glasgow and was sorry to have missed it so this was a good chance to visit the capital and catch The Pieman Cometh. What a perfect way to pass an hour on a rainy afternoon.

The topic seems pretty bleak with Bryan Jackson drawing on his experience as an accountant, who had the job of sorting out the financial woes of a number of football clubs. However, albeit touching on depressing matters such as the possibility of redundancy for everyone from players to cleaners and capturing the strong emotion attached to supporting a football club, he and David Belcher have produced a hilarious play.

The script is highly entertaining and fast paced with its changing scenes and series of exaggerated characters played by Julie Coombe, Callum Cuthbertson and Ross Allan. It’s clever writing with plenty of laughs and truly memorable moments.

The audience laughed their heads off at Julie Coombe’s depiction of the football manager egging his team on from the sidelines with very imaginative gestures and some great lines – sacking one of the players wasn’t going to be an option because he was engaged to his niece and his sister would go mad.

With much satire the play draws you into the difficulty the accountant, Alan Ledger, faces in trying to sort out the club’s financial mess; there’s a pleasing mix of tension and irreverence as he meets the various people associated with the club and ultimately the rather ‘zen’ Pieman.

You’ll be thoroughly entertained as ‘the pie situation has seriously come to a head.’

Go along, you’ll have a rare time.

Pat Byrne, 2 August, 2018

David Belcher chats to Pat Byrne about the play and other stuff (Podcast)