JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK by Sean O' Casey. Arches Theatre/Glasgow Citizens'.
Glasgow
JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK
by Sean O' Casey
Arches Theatre Company at Glasgow Citizens'
To 29 September 2001
Runs 2hr 20min One interval
Review Timothy Ramsden 29 September
Anniversary celebrations create limited impact with O' Casey's richly orchestrated tenement symphony.Arches Theatre Company celebrates its tenth anniversary with two Irish classics. Behan and late O' Casey helped establish the company. But Juno, like the forthcoming Playboy of the Western World, is a corner-stone of 20th Century Irish drama so Andy Arnold's company faces rigorous comparisons.
Against which, too much of this Juno falls flat. There are good points, like Gordon Davidson's set with its centre stage emptiness that fills with colourful affluence as the Boyle's anticipate their inheritance on tick Their new décor is imaginatively brought on to an Irish folk dance, an inspired bit of set changing. For when their expectations are dashed and the new furniture's repossessed, the room seems even bleaker for the jolly entry.
Alison Peebles is a youthful Juno, rather too modern in her detachment from the ground-down tenement life. The less it's a struggle, the less the divine attribution, of which her feckless husband is unaware, seems relevant.
At least it's a lived-in characterisation. Though Muireann Kelly's Mary also shows the breath of real life, other performances go for simple outlines, accentuating catchphrases (like the famous 'state of chassis') more like comedians than characters. It's often hard to follow thought-processes in a production that also refuses to allow key moments to resonate. At the very end, Juno's great humanistic cry to take away murdering hate is cut off as it's reverberating in audience minds by Jack and Joxer Daly's over-hasty entrance.
There's vigour, the story's clear and Arnold's cast raise a number of laughs. But there's little of the rich detail that illuminates the humanity of O' Casey's people. The few times it happens – Juno playfully punching Jack's cheek in a happy moment – only show what's missing elsewhere. And the tension around Johnnie Boyle's fear of the paramilitaries passes for little.
2001-10-12 07:10:05