A NIGHT IN NOVEMBER. To 27 July.

London

A NIGHT IN NOVEMBER

Tricycle Theatre To 27 July 2002
Mon-Sat 8pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval

TICKETS 020 7328 1000
Review Ian Willox 11th July 2002

A show that shouldn't be missed
One man in a crumpled suit stands alone on a bare stage. Two hours later the audience are on their feet cheering him to the rafters. What happens in between is theatrical magic.

Kenneth McCallister is a Protestant dole clerk in Belfast. This means he has a straight wife, a straight life and a genteel line in bigotry. He thinks of himself as an Englishman. It’s 1993 and the Republic of Ireland have to play Northern Ireland to qualify for the World Cup. Kenneth has to take his father in law to the match. Northern Ireland loses.

The raw racist and anti-Catholic hatred of the Protestant supporters opens a fault line in Kenneth’s own prejudices which drives him from his home, his family and his country until he finds himself in New York, supporting the Republic of Ireland in the final against Italy. The Republic win the World Cup. And Kenneth declares himself an Irishman and wins his humanity.

Writer Marie Jones is probably best known for her hit Stones In His Pockets. A Night In November was premiered in 1994 just two months after the real World Cup win. It is an extraordinary insight into the Loyalist world of Northern Ireland – Protestants aspiring to be more uptight than the most uptight lower class English. It’s a world where it is better to be respectable than to be loved. And like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, Kenneth has to find his heart – even if it means questioning everything in his life.

To this insight Marty Maguire adds an extraordinary energy, conjuring whole football grounds out of thin air as he switches with the speed and accuracy of a Warner Brothers cartoon from character to character. This is acting of a high calibre. This is the high wire with no net.

But this is not a show to dissect. Laughter, tears, shocked silence – and yet more laughter until all too soon the story is told. A treat. Don’t miss this show. If you can’t manage to get a ticket for its brief run at the Tricycle, look out for it at the Edinburgh Festival.

Kenneth McCallister: Marty Maguire

Director: Tim Byron Owen
Designer: Robert Ballagh
Lighting: Matthew Eagland

2002-07-13 10:43:30