Clockwise from top left: Chell, Kay, Orla, Kylah, Manda and Fionnula.
A stage show based on The Sopranos (Warner) by Alan Warner.
Provides examples of:
- A Cappella: Some of the numbers are performed without any instrumentation, namely Lift Thine Eyes, Forth, Let The Cattle Roam, the Brookside theme and O Taste and See, as well as portions of Wild West Hero and No Woman, No Cry.
- Adaptation Distillation: In the book, the narration talks about the girls changing out of their uniforms and into their own clothes as a kind of holy transformation. The play manages to distill this concept by having them perform a classical coronation anthem as they change.
- Adaptational Nationality: The barman who tells the girls to ease off on the flaming Sambucas is described as having an Antipodean accent in the book, but in the play and the film, he’s portrayed as a local.
- Binge Montage: The performance of Long Black Road is intercut with the scene where the girls down flaming Sambucas.
- Call-Back: Even though she isn't part of their group, Kay mentions to Fionnula that she likes Orla. Later, when Orla is telling Chopper about what she's been up to, she describes Fionnula and Kay as "two of [her] best friends".
- Chromosome Casting: All the actors in the company and musicians in the band are women.
- Dance of Romance: Reconstructed. Orla and Chopper’s first dance together at The Pillbox is somewhat awkward, but they still manage to hit it off and agree to meet up later in Oban.
- Drunken Song: "Forth Let the Cattle Roam" comes back as a reprise after some of the group drink the Bouncer's magic-mushroom-infused lager.
- Everybody Smokes: The cast goes immediately from performing their opening number to smoking outside the school while they wait for Sister Condron.
- Eagleland Osmosis: A couple of these sorts of terminology fumbles creep into the script, even though playwright Lee Hall is from Newcastle:
- Manda mentions that she’s not been getting her “allowance” since her dad’s been on the dole, rather than referring to it as “pocket money”. Weirdly, Orla refers to her own pocket money in an earlier scene.
- Kay refers to her “good grades”, rather than good marks.
- Framing Device: The show presents the story as a gig being played by the girls in the Mantrap, but doesn't lean terribly heavily on this concept once it's established in the opening scene.
- Frozen in Time: The show preserves the book's setting in The '90s rather than trying to update it.
- Mushroom Samba: When Manda, Chell and Kylah try the Bouncer's homemade magic mushroom lager, its effects are conveyed by having them all move in slow motion, including very slowly windmilling around the floor as they claim that the room is spinning.
- Recitation Hand Clasp: Played for Laughs when the girls perform songs from their choral repertoire.
- Set Switch Song: Although the show only uses one set, My Heart is Inditing serves a similar purposes as it’s sung as the girls change out of their school uniforms.
- Shown Their Work: In the stage show, the cast (including the band) wear shoes with multi-coloured shoelaces, which the girls are described as wearing in the book.
- There are some other fun nineties period details. The props include McDonald's cups with nineties-era branding. Kay can be seen drinking from a carton of Kia Ora at one point.
- Stock Sound Effects: Played for Laughs. When characters have conversations on phones, one of the actors imitates the stock garbled high-speed speech sound effect. When Kay collapses and has to go to hospital, they sing "nee-naw" sounds to indicate the arrival of an ambulance.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Kay is sick directly into her schoolbag, thus eliminating the need for any visible vomit on stage.
