Interview: Barrie Hunter on Celebrating Gary McNair’s Words and Joy of ‘Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil’

Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil is a novel dressed up as a love letter to Cowdenbeath FC, by Ron Ferguson. The Royal Lyceum’s artistic director, James Brining, is bringing Gary McNair’s adaptation to Edinburgh, with music composed (and performed) by Deacon Blue frontman Ricky Ross. It stars Dawn Steele (Skye: A Thriller, Eastenders, Holby City, Shetland, Granite Harbour) as Sally, and Barrie Hunter (The Angels’ Share, Smile, Tay Bridge, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman) as her dad.

And while Ricky and Dawn were whisked off by STV to see a piano, we got an opportunity to chat about the production with Barrie Hunter.

Let’s start with Brining, Steele, Hunter, Ross, McNair: that’s a solid midfield five.

I’m still pinching myself, to be honest. I think Gary’s crafted a beautiful story.

Dawn has that incredible career that so many people know her from, more screen than stage, but she’s holding this whole thing together. We’re all circulating around her gravitational pull.

And what about the backroom staff?

Yeah. It includes the stage management. What a team! Lewis den Hertog, who’s doing the video design, I’ve known since he was a wee boy; Simon Wilkinson, just an extraordinary lighting designer; Pippa Murphy, doing the sound design! It’s an absolute dream team. It really is.

So how did you get involved?

I’d seen that the Lyceum were doing it, and I thought, that sounds really interesting. I’ve been an admirer of Gary’s work for a while and the next thing I knew, I got a contact from the Lyceum, saying, ‘Would you fancy coming in and having a wee word with James [Brining]?’ And that was kind of it.

For you, it’s been a bit of a reunion.

I’d worked with James back in the Dundee Rep days, on a couple of shows. I worked with Ricky last year but also worked with him 20 years before that. Dawn and I were at college together. She was two years below me, although I’m considerably older than her!

We did Tutti Frutti with the National Theatre of Scotland, which is in a different lifetime, so it’s really nice to reconnect with all these people and to be back at the Lyceum.

Dawn was delighted to have you as her dad?

The day after she heard that I was doing it, Dawn phoned and she was like, you’re playing my dad? I’m like, aye, but only in flashback! You know, let’s get the age parameters into perspective here!

If you were going to sell Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil to somebody who was non-football orientated, what would be the pitch?

It’s a beautiful love letter to lower league Scottish football and a beautifully crafted piece of theatre – or it will be, by the time people get to see it! Gary’s such a wordsmith and some of his writing reminds you of John Byrne’s work, in that he writes a sentence that you think will never end. There’s a joy because you can really celebrate that language.

And anyone who likes a beautiful tune and a wonderful lyric: you need look no further, because Ricky Ross can more than fill that brief. His songs are just so beautiful. I’ve always been a fan of him and of Deacon Blue. I think he puts together the most amazing, succinct lyrics to songs. There’s nothing unnecessary in them; they’re spare, but they’re poetry.

The story follows Sally, a successful woman, who reluctantly returns home to Cowdenbeath to deal with the aftermath of her father’s death.

She’s coming back where she thought she’d left everything. She’s only going up for a very brief farewell, to sort out a few bits of paperwork, and that’ll be that. But – oh no – there’s unresolved business, so she has to keep coming back.

That’s because her father’s dying wish is that his ashes should be scattered in the centre circle after a win?

Yeah, she thinks she only has to maybe go to one game, but no. She’s got to go to all the games, and it takes that whole 1992–93 season! [In that season Cowdenbeath were relegated after winning only 3 games out of a possible 44 in the First Division]. She has to confront a lot of her past and make peace with a lot of family, and personal parts of her life as well.

And it being a piece of new writing makes a difference?

We’re not dusting off a Chekhov or a Shakespeare or a Douglas Maxwell; we’re doing something that has never been in front of an audience before. There’s always that slight fear factor, that for whatever reason, it might not work, but underneath it all, we know that it will. There is something really special about that.

Black Diamonds and the Blue Brazil is at The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh from 8th till 23rd May

Photo credit: Stuart Armitt