The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff - Review - Northern Stage

The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff
Northern Stage
11th Feb 2020

The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff - if it were a book it would have the marketing dept. pulling their hair out trying to fit it into their neat category pigeon holes. It doesn't quite fit any of the known labels. It's folk music, but it's not a gig, it's theatre but there's not really any  acting, it's a story with songs, but I wouldn't call it a musical... I can see the marketing guy scratching his head. And I can hear my friends' puzzled and not entirely convinced response when I tell them I'm going to a show about a guy from Stockton performed by three folksingers from Stockton. They don't get it.

And yet, last night I sat in a pretty much packed house at Northern Stage and heard and saw the most moving piece of theatre, and I know that others in the audience shared that experience. Some were folk music fans. Others were not, they were there as theatre or music fans, and quite a few didn't quite know what to expect from almost two hours of folk music...I confess to knowing the Young Uns, they have performed in the library where I work, so knew what to expect in terms of music and stories. I knew that the singing would be fantastic - the harmonies heavenly - and the storytelling between the songs would be engaging and entertaining. But even I didn't quite expect what I experienced last night.

The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff is more than entertaining. It's so much more than songs linked

together with a bit of storytlling. This is a truly moving narrative - the story of an ordinary man who did extraordinary things.  The music lifts you up, and plunges you back down - from the boot stomping marches to quiet, soulful grief.  Video graphics on the back drop etch out images that form into places, and faces that form gradually and surprise us when the image suddenly becomes clear. Images of the friends left behind, of the friends lost in battle. And interspersed within it all is the actual voice of Johnny himself - recorded for, and used with kind permission from, the Imperial War Museum.

The three guys are unassuming, they walk on and sit on the edge of the stage to introduce themselves -  we got a bit of ribbing from David Eagle for our lack of applause for this understated entrance. And this sets the tone for the evening. The guys - immensely talented though they are - are not the focus of the evening. The focus of the evening is Johnny Longstaff.

His story takes us from poverty in the streets of Stockton, to London via the Hunger marches of 934, and to Cable Street and from there to war in Spain. Johnny Longstaff was just 15 yrs old when he started his adventure, and just 17 yrs when he went of to Spain to fight fascism. he too is so unassuming and modest in his own recounting of the events he took part in - life changing, world changing events. Johnny's story is one of heroism, and activism, and modesty.

The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff  is sung, and told, and illustrated with humour, and love and respect.

The emotion radiated out from the performance and was fully absorbed by the audience last night.

I knew very little about the Spanish Civil War before last night. I was shamefully unaware of the sacrifices made there. I know and understand a whole lot more about it now.

Johnny Longstaff's son was in the audience last night. I had the good fortune and honour to speak to him in the bar before the show started. I can only imagine how he feels to see his father's story transformed into this heartfelt and amazing show. He hoped for one song from his father's story. What he got was so much more. Thanks to  Sean Cooney, David Eagle and Michael Hughes, Johnny Longstaff and others like him are no longer unsung heroes.

The ballad of Johnny Longstaff runs until 22nd Feb at Northern stage and then goes on tour around the country. If it is coming close to you then do buy a ticket, you won't be disappointed, and it might be an idea to take a handkerchief.
I don't often do standing ovations, but I was up on my feet last night.

*photo credit Pamela Raith

Denise Sparrowhawk

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