Girl from the North Country at Chichester Festival Theatre: REVIEW - this is why Bob Dylan's songs provide a beguiling context to this play

The music and lyrics of Bob Dylan could not be more different from the disco classics penned and performed by ABBA. But they share one thing in common – they have been re-imagined to give context and structure to dramatic storylines.

While Mamma Mia is light and frothy, Girl from the North Country is a tale of interactions at a failing guest house in a miserable mid American outback in the 1930s.

It might have been set in the great Depression but it was anything but depressing.

Like much of Dylan’s huge catalogue of work, this production is a work of profound beauty – it is poetic, sensitive, intriguing, and mesmerising. Writer and director Connor McPherson has not only matched the lyrics to the story but he has translated the earthy mood that underpins so much of Dylan’s work.

That’s no easy task. Dylan’s and his music are equally enigmatic.

We are introduced to an eclectic mix of characters – all facing challenges which threaten to re-orientate their futures.

Nick Laine (Graham Kent) is the owner of the boarding house – on which the bank is threatening to foreclose. His wife Elizabeth (Frances McNamee) battles dementia while teasing the audience with comments that might hold profound if disturbing truths.

Their adopted daughter (Justina Kehinde) gives an extraordinarily powerful performance as she faces bleak choices as a young pregnant black woman. The possibility of an arranged marriage to an elderly shoe-mender understandably does little to bring her joy or optimism, even if it would give her a secure financial future.

Add into the mix a host of guests and locals - the boxer, the Bible salesman, and Nick’s lover Mrs Neilson who seem unable to defy their destinies.

It’s no surprise that this play has had rave reviews. Mamma Mia it certainly isn’t – but like everything Dylan has written it is utterly unique and beguiling.