Broken Legs Blog

“Loud, proud and Northern”

Following the 2008 financial crisis, banks were more reluctant than ever to lend people money. It was this situation that led Dave Fishwick to attempt to start his own bank, a system designed to help the people of his home town Burnley to continue to run their businesses and live comfortable lives. This story has been turned into TV documentaries and blockbuster films – now Rob Madge and Pippa Cleary give it the musical treatment, in a show that is loud, proud and Northern. The characters are larger than life, straying into pantomime territory at points, with the emotional heart of the play often struggling to shine through. The musical makes the wise choice to shun the specific intricacies of what it takes to set up a bank, over-simplifying the various hoops that Dave has to jump through with lawyers and financial advisors, choosing instead to focus on the people of Burnley and why the bank is important to them. Unfortunately, the characters that are the focus here are too often reduced to stereotypes, and the lacklustre music and lyrics leave much to be desired.

As Dave, Sam Lupton is energetic and likeable, yet often a little bland amidst the rest of the colourful characters on show. Lupton begins by narrating the show, which assumes audience members will be at least familiar with the premise even if they are unfamiliar with specific details, as the show very quickly sets the scene before focus shifts to the people of Burnley in opening number “Burnley Born and Bred”. It is an exciting group number to start the show, but these group numbers feel draining after a while – there are very few quieter numbers, and even those that begin quieter, such as love song “My Kind of Happy” quickly introduces a backing choir to turn the song into yet another show-stopping number. It means the songs are not particularly character-focused, which is odd in a musical that is seemingly more about character than plot.

Dave enlists London-based lawyer Hugh (Lucca Chadwick-Patel) to help him set up his Northern bank, and it is the clash of personalities that is often the driving force behind the musical. Banking aside, the crux of this musical is about the North-South divide, as Hugh must leave behind his life of cappa-mocha-frappuccinos and instead take up a simpler and friendlier life in Burnley. The show does a lot to embrace the community aspect of Northern towns as opposed to the standoffish, stiff-necked Londoners, with the majority of the action taking place in a local pub where everyone knows everyone else and newcomers are immediately welcomed as part of the family.

One of the main problems here, however, is that the casting (Harry Blumenau) does not feel as diverse as it could be, with Mavis (Hannah Nuttall) and David H (Samuel Holmes) played by young people pretending to be old, reducing these characters to caricatures when the parts could have been taken on by older actors instead. It means the musical lacks the community feeling of other similar musicals such as “Come From Away” which include actors of all ages. Instead of watching people that feel relatable, we are left watching a bunch of drama-school grads pretending to be people that are relatable, and it means that we struggle to connect with the stories of the people that Dave is trying to help.

Neither of the writers Madge and Cleary are from Burnley, or even anywhere remotely Northern, and this is evident in that many of the Northerners are tired stereotypes; there is no subtlety in the stark differences between Londoner Hugh and the Burnleians that he is introduced to. NHS doctor Alex (Lauryn Redding) accuses Hugh of treating her as though she is stupid just because she has a Northern accent, and yet the things she says and does do not particularly portray high levels of intelligence – her plans to set up a health clinic are made a mockery of as she is too focused on the text font for the logo and the playlist for the jukebox in the waiting room. What’s more, the majority of sentences are punctuated with swearing and innuendo; there is no variety in the characters portrayed here, everyone as loud and uncouth as everyone else. In a play about bridging the divide between Northerners and Southerners, it often seems to accomplish the opposite.

The musical fares better in its depiction of senior banker Sir Charles Denbigh (Samuel Holmes), who is little more than a pantomime villain, but enjoys some of the better songs such as “Rich Boys Club” which are often infused with a rap element, yet still delivered in a public schoolboy accent. Denbigh is a lot of fun, although quickly disappears without his story ever being satisfyingly wrapped up, and it isn’t long before “Rich Boys Club” disposes with clever character observations and instead resorts to overly sexualised jokes that are simply unnecessary. The comedy here is often childish (bad karaoke singing, farting in lifts), and it can sometimes feel like watching a show aimed at families, so it is jarring when suddenly there are two entire scenes where the only joke that is continually hammered home is about the size of Hugh’s penis (in case anyone was wondering, he is apparently well-endowed).

Some of the songs stray into very odd territory, which feels refreshing to begin with, but forced by the end. “Past the M25” is an excellent, out-there musical number that sees Hugh making his way North, singing a song with his satnav whilst the screens behind him light up with pictures of Gail Platt from Coronation Street. It is a wonderfully wacky number, and there is some clever comedy here. But later songs are weird for the sake of it, such as “Put Your Trust in Us”, which sees Denbigh singing with a chorus of piggy banks, and “Never Gonna Do It Again” in which Nuttall appears as Margaret Thatcher with a bunch of cross-dressed stereotypical Tories as her backing dancers.

The jokes are tired and drag on too long – the amount of references to Mavis’s pacemaker, or local drag queen Simon/Cher (Mark Peachey) are just wearisome, and not remotely funny after the first couple of mentions (although Peachey gives perhaps one of the best vocal performances of the evening). The songs are not particularly inspired, although some of the lyrics are clever – the song “Patience” features a nice play on words with Dr Alex complaining that she’s “running out of patience” with “too many patients”, and the final number “A Little Change” features an excellent double-meaning in terms of the money Dave is raising and the change he is trying to make in Burnley. But these are gems that are too few and far between. Other songs start out promising but don’t follow through with their initial hook, and others are downright painful – ballad “Nowt to Lose” is a particular lowlight, lacking in melody and forcing words together that don’t quite rhyme, whilst “For Better or For Worse” is well performed by Hayley Tamaddon as Dave’s wife Nicky but is so generic it could belong to any musical, with nothing in the lyrics to tie it specifically to ‘Bank of Dave’.

Nikolai Foster’s direction has a clear vision for the piece, and the style is consistent throughout, whilst Amy Jane Cook’s set design brings a nice slice of warmth in its rendition of a classic Northern pub, jukeboxes, fruit machines and various random trinkets hung behind the bar. It all looks great, and Ebony Molina’s choreography is a lot of fun to watch, but this is a musical that is let down by its book, which goes too far in its oversimplification, meaning that the audience can feel like they’re being treated like children in a show that is very much aimed at adults. Switch off your brain and focus on the bright lights and daft costumes and you’ll have an excellent night of entertainment. Just don’t go in expecting anything too sophisticated – and if you’re from Burnley, try not to take offence at the awful stereotypes that just keep coming.

Tom Morley, May 2026

Review Round-up:

Theatre Reviews North: Bank of Dave – 4.5 stars from Theatre Reviews North, who call this “a refreshingly honest and crafted show” with “lyrics [that] are clever and witty, filled with rhyming northern idiosyncrasies (and swearing) that advances the plot”

Elemental Theatre: Bank of Dave – 3 stars from Elemental Theatre, who say the show is “a night of big laughs, big characters and unapologetic Northern spirit”

The Guardian: Bank of Dave – 3 stars from The Guardian, who call this “an ebullient, if a tad overheated, show, forever erupting into big chorus numbers”