The latest wonderful work from a Lanarkshire playwright wowed audiences as it took a look at the consequences of gang culture.
Geez a Break Productions' When We Were Young was a big hit with crowds in locations across Scotland including East Kilbride, Rutherglen and Glasgow.
The play was written and directed by 35-year-old Liam Lambie, from Plains, who has never been a scribe to shy away from difficult subjects.
He meets the hardest of topics head on in a way that only he can and in previous years his productions have featured the homeless, mental health issues and Alzheimer’s.
Among the audiences to sample Liam's latest stage spectacular was Monklands man Alex Dowdalls, who presents the following five-star review:
There are times when you see a production and you can't use enough superlatives to do it justice... this was one of those occasions.
From Bathgate to Irvine and trips to theatres in East Kilbride, Rutherglen and Glasgow, When We Were Young , written and directed by Liam Lambie, had audiences in tears and laughter.
One of Scotland's most ingenious writers and brilliant actors, Liam is never afraid to take on the toughest of subjects. He is fearless and thrives on the more complex of issues.
In recent years Geez a Break Productions, under Liam and Ross McAree, has taken to the stage to tackle such emotive subjects as Alzheimer's, the homeless and young men who left Glasgow to fight in the First World War and never returned.
This time, the focus was on a group of young chavs, neds, whatever the best description, who grew up in Govan downing tonic wine and were faced with the gang culture of carrying and not being afraid to use blades, with devastating consequences.
From the second the lights dimmed until the final sequence, the brilliant cast had the audience in the palm of their hands, spellbound and wondering what was going to happen next.
Make no mistake there was no shortage of blood in some of the scenes, but Liam's incredible script was littered with hilarious jokes superbly delivered by the talented cast, none better than Ross McAree playing Tam , Sam Fraser playing Joe and the always wonderful Clare Rooney taking the role of Mags .
Gee, played by Jack Bishop, and Liam himself, as Mooney , were incredibly funny.
Liam’s acting ability was astonishing, turning a tearful on-stage moment into hilarity, and his timing was immaculate every time. It was an astonishingly powerful and talented performance.
Ross McAree stole the show with a fantastic tear-jerking and polished performance of the highest standard.
They were joined by the very talented Candace Nicholson as Michaela and Bronagh Docherty as Sammy .
Everyone played their part to the full in a show which lasted over two hours.
No spoilers as the show is going to make a return. If you didn't catch it first time, don't miss it when the new dates are announced.
The show moves on with the youngsters from the 90s growing into the noughties and how their lives develop.
Make no mistake, take the tissues with you. A Lambie production will leave you in tears either of laughter or sadness. But you can't escape the brilliantly developed script and the way it was portrayed.
Each of the cast at some stage during the show gave a soliloquy, with each one as good as the other.
It was a tribute to the Geez a Break cast that each night of the five shows they received a spontaneous and massively deserved standing ovation.
There are no heirs and graces in the show. The lighting and music is simple, the stage consisted of two boxes, a plastic jacket and two bottles of wine from Devon made by monks.
That's where the simplicity ended... the rest was utter class. Role on the return of When We Were Young .
To find out more about Geez a Break Productions, visit the group's Facebook page.
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