Teenager Keli is like a wounded animal. For her life is one long battle to survive.
Music is her lifeline and the one consistent which makes her feel maybe there is hope ahead. Let’s face it, it’s tough living in a former mining community where’s there’s no real chances and at 17, the prospect of working in a supermarket and looking after your mentally ill mum the rest of your life is not a happy one.
Award-winning musician and composer Martin Green has used his life-long love of brass music to create the very special play, KELI, performed by the National Theatre of Scotland.
It’s gritty and powerful and has similarities to the infamous 1996 film ‘Brassed Off’ which starred Scottish actor Ewan McGregor. And Green makes several light-hearted references to it in his fabulous play, which tells the story of Keli, a bright and talented teenager trapped in a life of misery.
What hope has she when her life is consumed with caring for others? The defences are up at every opportunity and Keli, played with real energy and talent by Liberty Black, is so out of sync with the world that she can’t see when she is being helped.
Black, who is in her last year of her BA in acting degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, is outstanding in her professional debut and really revels in her mixed up role.
The cavernous black walled set by Alisa Kalyanova cleverly draws the audience into the story which see Keli fall into a collapsed coal mine where she meets the long-dead Willie Knox played expertly by acting stalwart Billy Mack, famous in the community for his prize-winning tenor horn playing and for surviving a serious mining accident.
Willie is an old style socialist who insists on calling a bemused Keli “sister” and imparting his old-fashioned views of solidarity on Keli, whose only real way out of the darkness of life is through her music. She is far and above the best player in the local brass band, a fact her long-suffering teacher Brian (Phil McKee) tries to encourage.
Keli’s big chance comes when she is chosen to be the band’s soloist in a competition at the Royal Albert Hall in London, an opportunity muddled by the stresses of home, college and work. The pressure is on to bring the trophy home, with the last win courtesy of Willie Knox in 1948, the year of the Palestine War, a fact Green reminds the audience of, with Free Palestine stickers on Keli’s instrument bag.
Nerves overcome Keli and after a disastrous performance she runs to her mum (Karen Fishwick) and finds herself in a grimy pub, where she is helped by good-hearted Samaritan, Saskia (Olivia Hemmati) who encourages Keli to have faith in herself and “be who she is”.
It’s all very deep, but with plenty of quips thrown in to lighten the mood, the whole play is lifted by the brilliance of The Whitburn Band from coal mining West Lothian and winners of Scottish championships 23 times.
Andrew McMillan sends a shiver up the spine with his tenor horn solo and along with Hanna Mbuya, the pair are joined for the finale by the whole band, who finish off a really thoughtful and uplifting play with a fabulously loud, bright and swish performance.
KELI, performed by the National Theatre of Scotland with Martin Green’s Lepus Arts, rounds off its tour of Scotland on Saturday 14th June 2025 with a matinee at 2:30pm and evening performance at 7:30pm.
For more information, dates, show times and tickets, please visit the National Theatre of Scotland website.
Author Bio:
Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.
Photographs by Mihaela Bodlovic
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