Bob Dylan play, Girl From the North Country, leaves the star's manager in tears

A new play inspired by the songs of Bob Dylan has received the thumbs-up from the singer’s manager — who said it made him cry.

Girl From The North Country, by Conor McPherson, is set in Dylan’s hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, during the Great Depression and features stripped-back covers of songs such as Like A Rolling Stone and Forever Young.

McPherson, whose work includes award-winning play The Weir, was contacted by Dylan’s record company to write a show based on his back catalogue. He said: “His manager was here, Jeff Rosen. He’s been his manager since 1978 and he flew over. He said he absolutely loved it and he was crying. Then he said he cries once a decade.”

But McPherson said he would not “presume” to ask Rosen what Dylan thought of the show, adding: “I just told him to tell Bob he was always with us. Everybody in the cast just wanted to do right by him, they have such respect for him, so he said he would tell him that.”

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The show, which opened last night at the Old Vic, stars Ciarán Hinds, as the owner of a boarding house he is about to lose to the bank, and Shirley Henderson as his wife, who has dementia. Sheila Atim plays their adopted daughter Marianne.

They are joined by a cast of drifters who enter their lives including a preacher played by Michael Shaeffer. Other stars include Bronagh Gallagher and Ron Cook.

The play ends with Henderson belting out Forever Young to Hinds, who said her voice was “phenomenal”.

Hinds said: “She is a gift to us all as indeed the rest of the cast are. They are not only extraordinary actors but they have these different voices that are able to harmonise. The music picks it up, it lifts people’s spirits and Conor occasionally throws in his own dialogue — a one liner that also breaks the tension because whatever horrors people face there is always humour in our lives.” Actress Noma Dumezweni and outgoing Shakespeare’s Globe boss Emma Rice were among the audience who gave the show a standing ovation.

Until October 7, Old Vic Theatre