The Confessions of Gordon Brown brings dream of power to life

Former creative director at Perth Theatre Ian Grieve returned to the city at the weekend in the one-man play The Confessions of Gordon Brown.

The fictional account of the former prime minister’s thoughts on his quest for power and his back-stabbing colleagues was staged twice at the weekend in the Norie Miller Room at Perth Concert Hall as part of the Perth Festival of the Arts.

Written and directed by Emmy-nominated Scottish writer and director Kevin Toolis, the audience appreciated the local references to Kirkcaldy and Brown’s upbringing as a son of the manse, “the people heartless, hopeless Scottish”.

For more than an hour Grieve kept the audience mesmerised with his performance and how Brown’s dream of power went awry.

His portrayal of the politician is convincing and slightly deranged, with all the mannerisms down to a tee as he recounts his horror of interacting with the public and foreign heads of state.

The play is the latest triumph in a career that has seen Grieve work as an actor and director in most of Scotland’s theatres including the Traverse, Royal Lyceum and Dundee Rep.