| Theatre Preview Swansong
By Grainne McLoughlin
After being performed to huge acclaim in Dublin and Edinburgh, Swansong,
written and performed by Conor McDermottroe is about to receive its London
premiere.
Finborough Theatre will play host to the production, which also presented
recent Irish dramas including Frank McGuinness’ Gates Of Gold and Tom Murphy’s
The Gigli Concert.
In it we see Bridget Byrne taking a ferry to London to have an abortion
but chooses to give birth to a baby boy instead.
Frowned on by the church, isolated by relatives, Bridget and her partner
Occi struggle to survive in a tough garrison town in 1960s rural Ireland.
It sees Occi grow into adulthood in a dog-eat-dog world on a journey that
takes him through murder and mayhem, love and death, returning ultimately
to the beginning — a lost soul looking for recognition and a place to belong.
Described as a “haunting picture of life on the margins” Swansong is
expected to pack audiences out throughout its four week run.
Conor, who has worked in a variety of theatre, film and television roles,
moved from acting in Abbey to Australia where he spent 10 years.
On his return to Ireland in 1991, he spent a lot of time in theatre before
taking roles in Glenroe, The Matchmaker and Intermission.
Swansong will run at the Finborough Theatre from September 6 until September
24. For further information contact the box office on 0870 4000 838 or
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk.
Theatre Review
Singing I’m No A Billy, He’s A Tim
By Richard Purden
Two hate-filled Old Firm fans are put into a prison cell on the day their
teams meet on the park. Under the microscope Dillon plays out all their
fears, paranoia, misconceptions and the hatred that has shaped their lives.
One of the major delusions he deals with early on is when Rangers fan
Billy announces: “We took you in.”
You can see the audience wincing in their seat at the tangible ignorance.
But most importantly Dillon’s play suggests the bigotry unites both sets
of fans.
“It’s boring without an enemy,” Tim admits.
Dillon doesn’t take one side, here the Celtic fan is embittered, and
he holds onto the mistakes of the past and is stunted by them. At the same
time there is no line as hate-filled as “Up to our knees in Fenian blood.”
Tim points out if this line was sung at any football match and you replaced
Fenian with Paki or any other racial type there would be uproar — but not
in Scotland. The nature of the two supporters is also revealing.
A Celtic fan will insult you with a slap on the back, a smile on his
face and with the wink of an eye but the Rangers fan may say the same line
and sound stoic, bitter and twisted.
How each supporter feels about his national identity is shaped by the
other. The Rangers fan is one of the last bastions of a British identity
without understanding what that means.
Both sets of these supporters lose their Scottish identity because their
understanding of Scotland is shaped by their adversary. Even if it’s just
for a moment at the end of the play they both begin to realise their intolerance
of each other has made them social lepers.
Singing I’m No Billy, He’s A Tim will run at the Gilded Ballon Teviot
Wine Bar, Edinburgh until August 28. For further information contact 0131
668 1633.
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