Pauline Gibson (Si\u0203n Brooke)\ncampaigned on a single issue – to keep her local hospital open against the\nmeddling of politicians. On the back of this, she now finds herself not only\nwalking the corridors of the House of Commons, but also as the bookies\nfavourite to be the next leader of the Labour Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David Hare\u2019s script hits the mark\nearly on, with many of Gibson\u2019s quick quips capturing the sentiment of\npolitical discourse at the present time. Her voice of dissent resonates clearly\nwith the audience, and offers an insight into her success at the ballot box. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibson\u2019s story may be a far cry from\nthe current chaos at Westminster, but the focus of the drama feels like it\nshould be better placed on the barriers to politics for women or indeed the\nintricacies of partisan politics when arriving from a background outwith the\nsphere. In reality, the piece is a tortured love story and a battle of wills,\nrather missing the open goal laid out for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibson\u2019s university flame, Jack\nGould (Alex Hassell), plays his squeaky New Labour part with concerning ease\nwhich does add to the spirit of the event, but dissection of Labour itself is\nlight-touch at best and, whilst not proclaiming to be in parallel with the\npresent day\u2019s affairs, the play doesn\u2019t quite manage to make itself believable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liza Sadovy\u2019s portrayal of Gibson\u2019s\ntroubled mother offers the most touching moments of the production and the\nexploration of Gibson\u2019s past is best examined during these often tender scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the direction of Neil\nArmfield, the production is technically well polished, with an impressive\nrotating stage against an otherwise vast black void. but loses momentum in its\nclimax. An unfathomable twist spoils any pace built up and rather than a\nrazor-sharp political drama, the piece descends into farce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whilst a politically light piece, it\nis rather a disappointment that hugely topical issues are never properly\nexplored. Whilst Hare may be attempting to normalise the role of women in\npolitics, I\u2019m Not Running <\/em>fails to grasp the real issues\nassociated with a woman\u2026 Aside from one sharp-tongued response from Gibson,\nyou\u2019d almost forget that her gender would be a barrier at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m Not Running <\/em>will\nbe screened in cinemas on 31st January. Book tickets here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fraser MacDonald @fr4ser<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pauline Gibson (Si\u0203n Brooke) campaigned on a single issue – to keep her local hospital open against the meddling of politicians. On the back of this, she now finds herself not only walking the corridors of the House of Commons, but also as the bookies favourite to be the next leader of the Labour Party. David Hare\u2019s script hits the mark early on, with many of Gibson\u2019s quick quips capturing the sentiment of political discourse at the present time. Her voice of dissent resonates clearly with the audience, and offers an insight into her success at the ballot box. Gibson\u2019s story may be a farRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2380,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2379\/revisions\/2380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}