SHOOT THE CROW. To 22 February.
Manchester
SHOOT THE CROW
by Owen McCafferty
Royal Exchange Studio Theatre To 22 February 2003
Mon-Fri 7.30pm Sat 8pm Mat Sat 5pm
Runs 1hr 30min No interval
TICKETS 0161 833 9833
Review Timothy Ramsden 8 February
Strongly-written, witty and sharp-focused new play in a sparkling production: another plus for the Exchange's fine current season.In this play, Owen McCafferty - a rising star on the Irish playwrighting skyline - provides a new variation on an old theme. Nothing wrong with that - there's as much fun in seeing how old ideas are played with as lies in the rare gift of a totally new idea.
It's a work play - and in its funniest scene, a lunch-break piece. Four men are tiling a floor, ranging from Randolph the youngster who dreams of life as a biker, up to the old-hand on the verge of retirement: it's Ding Ding's last day and he wants to buy a window-cleaning round to keep himself alive and active.
But such things need money, and as an ever-shortening series of scenes show work's dull routine and then provide a sense of momentum, the four men manoeuvre in shifting alliances to work a lunchtime scam. They may spend days together tiling rooms, but each is shut in with his own agenda and pre-occupations, making for unreliable conspiracies and developing rivalries.
These, with the volatility especially of Patrick O' Kane's comic yet momentarily fearsome Socrates (that's what you get for thinking a bit) and the slow-wittedness of Paul Dinnen's new hand, lead to the hilarious lunch-scene with Petesy and Ding Ding trying to clear each other off-site, both of them issuing a collection of nods and winks to their less clued-up collaborators.
McCafferty's skill lies in merging his plot (and his characters' plottings) with their diverse characters to build a picture of essentially honest working men trying to break free through a bureaucratic slip-up which, inevitably, turns out a dead-end (literally, for one character) in the downbeat conclusion.
Whether it's Petesy, whose desperation to beat the system lies in wanting to give his child a chance in life, or Randolph whose glossy biking mag. finishes up used to wiping spilt tea - or Ding Ding hopeful enough to buy a new bucket ready for his new, independent career before life becomes too much for him - this play about life's captives who just want to shoot the crow to freedom. And it succeeds through its individualised characters, developed in dialogue that's vivid and never forced or self-conscious
Through this McCafferty gives a picture of people whose needs and dreams outstrip what life is offering them and the firm sense that, ill-organised as each one is - internally as well as interdependentally - there's no way they'll beat a system to which, inevitably, they end up bowing down. Finally, it's only Socrates who makes for a moment's rebellion, and that's a minor matter for which he knows the others will cover.
Fury and inner desperation, frustration at others' inability to keep to agreed plans inform both Conleth Hill's superb Petesy and Walter McMonagle's ire-filled Ding Ding. Jacob Murray's production skilfully builds with the pace of the script and the fine cast ensure the laughter's never at the expense of characters' integrity.
Randolph: Paul Dinnen
Ding Ding Walter McMonagle
Petesy: Conleth Hill
Socrates: Patrick O' Kane
Director: Jacob Murray
Designer: Laurie Dennett
Lighting: Mark Distin
Sound: Gwen Thomson
Fights: Renny Krupinski
2003-02-09 18:11:23