Much like film ‘extras’, freelance, session musicians seldom get the breaks or recognition that their most famous ‘peers’. In Dal Segno – which is written by Joseph Morley and directed by Julia Faulkner – we meet a resident ‘band’ at a club in 1979. For five days a week, they either perform ‘on their own’ or sometimes with an established artist as a backing band.

We get to know the band through the eyes of ‘outsider’ Brian (Vincent Shiels), who has been offered a stint as a ‘dep’ – covering for another musician who is away. Brian already has ‘history’ with some of the band, though whether he’ll speak about it upfront is another matter…

As for people he’s on good terms with, Brian knows Ron (Mike Aherne), who he toured with in Amsterdam 20 years ago. On the flip side, there’s Mike (Kevin Wathen) who ‘thinks’ they’ve played together before and is the most overt ‘ladies man’ in the band. His interest in the opposite sex would be considered ‘fair game’, except he has a wife and child at home…

While Chris (Theo Watt) is a trumpet player who is well on his way to being Mike’s ‘Mini Me’, Derek (Frank Simms) is a newly-wed who values his marital status, but has no illusions of staying as a freelance musician indefinitely. Derek’s circumstances have also something in common with Adrian (Adam Sopp) and Alex (Max Kinder).

Adrian is the musical ‘arranger’, but stagnation in his musical career has him brooding… or perhaps what’s on his mind is something closer to home… Meanwhile, Alex is very much in love with Cheryl (Claire Gleave) and considers her perfect for him in every way. However, Cheryl’s ‘alternative’ views – which wouldn’t have been out of place with the counterculture 10+ years previously – have the rest of the band raising their eyebrows. Life’s hard enough grafting as a musician without having unrealistic expectations…

Arguably the most strongest performances in the play are those that are more circumspect in character. Having said that, Kinder’s Alex is the convivial heart of the group and Gleave (who not only plays Cheryl, but several other characters too) does wonders with the little time she has to work with.

Circumstantial evidence also plays a big part in setting up the emotional intrigue in the play. This is no small part to the writing that hints that for all of their differences, there is more in common with band members than meets the eye.

Setting the play in 1979 is an interesting choice and the only period of time when disco, punk, reggae, ‘middle of the road’, plus rock, New Wave and Two Tone music dominated the charts. Following the Conservative Party being elected to power in the UK and the discontent that spread nationwide during their tenure, music became a much more serious business, as an increasing number of UK artists used the medium as a way of ‘protesting’, and conveying songs with messages and meaning.

So why call the play Dal Segno? It’s a musical term that loosely translate as ‘repeat, where marked’. With the echoes of some things from the past impacting on the present, it could be argued that for some – if not all – the musicians, everything has come to a head. Now. In the words of William Faulkner: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

© Michael Davis 2023

Dal Segno runs at Theatre at the Tabard from 21st June to 8th July.