I saw a one-man play starring River City actor
Jordan Young expertly shimmies out of the sharp suits and gangster family he's better known for on River City, to become Ronnie in a masterful performance that expertly captures the highs and deep, deep lows of this ordinary, and not so ordinary, life lived.
(Image: MIHAELA BODLOVIC)
It's just Jordan on stage for about an hour and a quarter, but Douglas Maxwell's writing is so deft in its ability to have you gulping with laughter one moment and breaking your heart the next, that those 75 minutes whip by, leaving you feeling as out of breath as a dog that's been chasing its own tail in circles.
(Image: MIHAELA BODLOVIC)
Jordan is brilliant, not just in his portrayal of a man trying desperately to navigate loneliness and loss, but in the way he brings to life the other characters who flit through his story: the dog-owners, like the helpless new parents, the prim and proper old lady, the two Roberts; his fellow dog-walkers, insufferable Jenna and bullish Rosco; and the dogs, of course, including Fury-formerly-Marmalade, wild puppy Rex, the inexplicably-named Coriander and lovely Albert, who might just be as lost as his owner.
He has the audience holding its breath at some points, and in uproar at others. The vision of a poo-smeared, panicking Ronnie wrangling dogs as chaos threatens to engulf him on all sides, is not one any of us will easily forget.
Man's Best Friend is a fantastic piece of theatre, with a beautifully simple set enhanced by sweet illustrations from Glasgow author and artist Ross Collins, and a stellar performance by Jordan Young.
You don't have to be a dog-lover to love it but if you are, brace yourself for the last 10 minutes ...
Man's Best Friend is at the Tron until July 12.
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