Lyttelton – National
Theatre
27th July,
2016 – press night
The National Theatre’s revival of Sean O’Casey’s play not
only marks the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin but also allows us
to reflect on more recent instances of nationalism closer to home.
O’Casey sets his play in a Dublin on the brink of change and
rebellion, yet his deft focus is on everyday people who live together in a
run-down tenement, caught up in the Rising. Among them is Fluther (Stephen
Kennedy), a carpenter who we first meet having just fixed a door taking pride
in how he’s apparently given up the drink. He’s joined by the charwoman Mrs
Gogan (Josie Walker) who establishes herself as the busybody of the tenement,
gossiping about the other residents and complaining how Nora Clitheroe is
getting above her station. As people come and go we become more aware that this
is a war being played out on the streets of their homes and one which plunges
the lives of ordinary civilians into being directly involved.
Certainly that is the case in Howard Davies’ and Jeremy
Herrin’s co-production, where it is the women’s struggles who stand out. Particularly
impressive is Judith Roddy whose Nora is sprightly and wants to pride herself
in her home: she lays the table with a certain musicality and keeps order over
the squabbling men. She lives for her husband and you feel her pain when he prioritises
his volunteering duties and the love of his country before the love for his
family.
In the second scene, we hear the voice of a speaker rejoicing
that war may be terrible but it ‘is not an evil thing’ and that ‘there are many
things more horrible than bloodshed and slavery is one of them’. But for the
few characters who paint war to be heroic in its efforts to free Ireland they are
overshadowed by O’Casey’s portrayal of the monstrosities of war. Not only does
it kill and wound those fighting but we see the very tangible effects it has on
others. Nora loses her baby as well as mentally suffering and Bessie is shot as
she tries to stop Nora from calling out of the window. The bleak ending sees
three previously strong-willed women dead, bereft, or emotionally unstable but,
ultimately, left picking up the pieces. Any lack of redemption in the final
moments shows the futile attempts of violence in the cause of nationalism which
gives plenty of food for thought in the wake of recent displays of nationalism
during the EU Referendum campaign.
The Irish cast handles O’Casey’s language extremely well,
even if this production doesn’t put much prominence on his comedy. Lloyd
Hutchinson, looking like ‘th' illegitimate son of an
illegitimate child of a corporal in th' Mexican army’
in his regalia as Nora’s uncle, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Stephen Kennedy offer
fine support as the tenants who may bicker over ideas of religion and science
but are united in their poverty and respect for Nora.
Vicky Mortimer’s design impressively evokes the squalors of
tenement living and the sense that Dublin’s streets became a battleground, but it
also suggests the sense of home that Nora tries to inject in the tenement as
well as the sense of community in the local bar. In the later scenes, James
Farncombe’s atmospheric lighting recreates the skies of a devastated Dublin,
while Stephen Warbeck’s music frames the play with a melancholy tone.
Davies’ and Herrin’s production highlights O’Casey’s adept
eye for humanity and detailed characters who live upon a backdrop of the
far-reaching destructive and unforgiving effects of war.
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