Juno
and The Paycock Arches Theatre Company 10th Anniversary Season.
Playwright - Sean O'Casey
Director - Andy Arnold
Company - Arches Theatre Company
Designer - Gordon Davidson
Lighting Designer - Alllan Wolfe
Costume Designer - Lucinda Meredith
Venue - Citizens Theatre www.citz.co.uk
0141 429 0022
119 Gorbals
St from centre by subway/short walk(20 mins), bus (12/17 mins) or taxi
(10mins)
Dates -
19 - 29 Sept at 7:30pm not Sun or Mon £10 (£3)
Reviewer - Thelma Good
Just after the 1922 - 23 civil war in Ireland O'Casey wrote this play,
set during that war in a Dublin tenement flat. Andy Arnold's cast of Irish
and Scottish actors make this production resonate, with the effects of
last week's attacks making its themes even more sharp edged and troubling.
At the beginning callers bring to Juno news of jobs and inheritance but
later a knock at the door brings something darker, so much harder to live
with.
Alison Peebles gives Juno Boyle a dogged determined steel as the
world buffets her - not trodden down yet but oh so limited in her poverty.
Her husband "Captain" Jack, the Paycock (peacock), deals with
their threadbare lives differently. She tries to keep their heads above
water, he just bobs along in the currents - making waves or reaching a
secure shore don't interest him. Derek Reid's Jack has such disreputable
charm even after we learn he's only been to sea once, in a coal boat!
Joxer is his buddy in and out of the boozer, Brendan Morrissey
is a remarkably grimy Joxer, rangy, knees out of his trousers. He's the
trampish man you bodyswerve if you can, but his blarney may draw you to
him.
The Boyles' two children are each idealists in their way. Johnny fought
with the IRA against the British and the Freestate, gaining a bullet in
the hip and losing an arm, his shambling state almost ignored by his family.
Written as a bitter discordant character, in this production Aonghus
Weber as Johnny plays only one note, rendering him more infuriating
than the bleeding broken heart of the play. Muireann Kelly is an
almost luminous Mary, on strike from her work, preparing to go out - despite
her brother's experiences she still believes principles are to be stood
by. She's reading plays with New Women, A Dolls House and The
Wild Duck, in the third act she finds a moving Ibsenlike courage to
be truthful.
At the end of act one when news comes that Jack has been left some money
there's a wonderful lively Irish jig scene change as for once in their
lives the Boyles' get matching furnishing. In the 2nd half of the production
is the flamboyant raffish Maisie Madigan, she could almost be Jack's sister.
Singing not quite like a mating nightingale but still seductive Joyce
Falconer's performance is wild and wonderful, all blackened teeth
and swagger.
It's a horrible accident that this production opens as we flail around
trying to understand our changed world. The clear direction and overall
strength of the production mean that O'Casey's insight filled lines, about
patriotism, idealism and the strong human urge to keep on with our lives
while others lose theirs, further shake our already shaken spirits.
© Thelma Good 19 September 2001
The other play in
Arches Theatre Company 10th Anniversary Season is
The Playboy Of The Western World by J.M. Synge and directed by Andy
Arnold with most of the same cast as in Juno And The Paycock.
on at The Arches www.thearches.co.uk
0901 022 0300 253 Argyll St oposite the Argyll St exit from Central Station.
Review The
Playwoman of The Western World
Dates
- 12 - 27 October at 7.30pm, £8/£4, 2 for 1 on opening night
Theatre listings >>
