Review: THIS IS MEMORIAL DEVICE, Riverside Studios

If you've ever idolised a lesser-known band and endlessly reminisce about its utter brilliance through rose-tinted spectacles, then This Is Memorial Device at Riverside Studios is a must-see.

This energetic, Edinburgh Festival Fringe award-winning show stars the engaging and indefatigable Paul Higgins (Slow Horses, Line of Duty, The Thick of it) as Ross Raymond, undying fan of fictional post-punk band Memorial Device in Airdrie in the 1980s.

Ross relates the darkly humorous tale of a niche Scottish band hitting an anarchic music scene in a place where nothing ever happens. Other than blowing up old council flats, that is, which is displayed in slow motion on a screen. We're also treated to other depressing pictures of the nowheresville town, along with wholly realistic video interviews (great work from video designer Martin Clark). These fictional groupies and hangers-on (very believable performances by Andrea Anderson, Miriam McCluskie, Sanjeev Kohli and Gabriel Quigley) add more from their perspectives to the rise and fall of Memorial Device.

Ross steals the show, however. He digs around in boxes and pieces together Memorial Device – literally from mannequins, a black overcoat, pair of sunglasses and peculiar papier-mâché head sprouting blue and purple feathers. Ross reverently brings the band members to life. In particular, he outlines lead member, Lucas's batshit philosophy and baffling lyrics "in an attempt to write himself into existence".

Higgins has the audience in the palm of his hand from the outset. We feel his intense feelings for this ramshackle indie group in a wonderful script adapted by Graham Eatough, who also directs the production. Eatough's play's based on the cult book by David Keenan released in 2017, and is perfectly structured and paced throughout.

For instance, just when you feel things can't become bleaker, Eatough introduces laugh out loud lines for balance. They'll take you back to the past when you worshipped your own flawed musical heroes. My favourite is the ironic list of previous band names, including Disabled Adults, Dark Bathroom #2 and Chinese Moon.

This level of detail in the writing carries on in an impressive vein. Nerdy Ross proudly points out that the guitar and synth player, renowned for once being in Slave Demographics, also appeared on BBC Scotland.

He adds that band members debated at length whether real blood is better than fake blood during a gig. One point of view is that fake blood is best, because "somehow it looks more real".

Higgins is in total command of unreliable narrator Ross. As well as cataloguing arcane information about Memorial Device, he offers clues about his own sad life brightening somewhat since discovering the group. "I was telling people to drop out and see the world while I lived at my mum's in Airdrie".

It's easy to be fooled by the ease with which Higgins holds the stage and the casual, experimental vibe of the production. But behind the scenes, the crew pulls everything tightly together, from effective lighting design by Nigel Edwards, Gavin Thornson's evocative soundscape and music by Stephen Pastel.

Ross's disturbing, but beautiful, dance (unusual choreography from movement director Kally Lloyd Jones) to a murmuration of birds accompanies his questioning whether one should delve into the past. Do we simply invent our endings, he wonders. Is there really any resolution to life? There's plenty to mull over after seeing this dark comedy with a running time of approximately 80 minutes (without an interval).

And finally, thanks goes to the Stephen W Dunn Theatre Fund, Edinburgh International Book Festival and Creative Scotland, without whom this small gem would never appear briefly but brightly – just like hapless Memorial Device – on Scottish and London stages.

This is Memorial Device runs at Riverside Studios until May 11.

Photo credits: Mihaela Bodlovic

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