THE QUARE FELLOW. To 2 July.
London
THE QUARE FELLOW
by Brendan Behan
Tricycle Theatre To 2 July 2005
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Sat 4pm & 22, 29 June 2pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7328 1000
www.tricycle.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 15 June
Not the shock it once was, having been absorbed into the theatrical bloodstream, but a notable, if flawed, play well-revived. In 1956, when kitchen sink drama' was provocative, no wonder the theatregoing world noticed Brendan Behan's prison play. There's no reassuring blanket of sentimentality or moral groove in which to comfortably slip. Behan knew prisons from the inside, and Kathy Burke's Oxford Stage Company revival is upfront about the realities from the opening slopping out onwards.
Prisoners and warders are taken on their own terms within the all-male prison, where the institutional green of cell-doors seems to melt into the preponderant grey around. Life and energy come from the characters in the gallery humour of the first act, where prisoners are happier to receive a reprieved murderer as next-cell neighbour than a gay paedophile (even Behan, for all his IRA activities and drunken TV appearances, couldn't name the crime on the censored 50s stage).
Youths are disrespectful, while older prisoners range from Sean Gallagher's hardman proudly listing his serious sentences, to Dunlavin (bluff, bearded Ciaran McIntyre), wheedling his way with the staff, contempt concealed beneath his model prisoner surface.
There's talk too of the quare fellow, about to be hanged, with most of the play set in the courtyard, as prisoners are doled a few extra ciggies to dig the pit for his drop next day. The interaction between these inmates, their quarrels and histories, gives the play its fascination. Burke's production makes clear the range of prisoners, from a moralising tax-payer to Tony Rohr's toothless, throatily viperfish Neighbour.
Behan's less dynamic with the staff, who are case studies rather than individuals. The exception is Sean Campion's ever-present Regan, a tall slim figure greying in the service, knowing its dynamics intimately. Amid the opening prisoner joking Regan introduces the first solemn note. His face shows continuing distaste and he knows the minds of prisoners and governor alike. Regan apart, even Burke's production can't disguise the lowered temperature at the start of Behan's last act when the prisoners temporarily leave the stage.
Otherwise The Quare Fellow's vigour remains, even if less shockingly than half a century ago. And, in Campion and Rohr, it has two especially strong, contrasting characterisations to savour.
Warder Donnelly: Kieran Cunningham
Dunlavin: Ciaran McIntyre
Prisoner B: Sean Gallagher
Prisoner A: David Ganly
Prisoner E/Prison Governor: Oengus MacNamara
Scholara: Matthew Dunphy
Shaybo: Christopher Logan
Warder Regan: Sean Campion
The Lifer/New Warder: Gerard Rooney
The Other Fellow/Jenkinson: Noel Brendan McAlley
Neighbour: Tony Rohr
Holy Healey/Cook/The Chief: Gary Lilburn
Prisoner C: Nick Danan
Prisoner D: Paul Lloyd
Mickser: Jason Kavanagh
Crimmin: Patrick Lynch
The Hangman: Jay Simpson
Man in Punishment Cell: Patrick McCabe
Director: Kathy Burke
Designer: David Roger
Lighting: Chris Davey
Sound: Fergus O'Hare
Musical Director: Philip Chevron
Assistant Lighting: Peter Harrison
2005-06-16 07:13:41