New plays and no coats on a Belfast night
My 2 year old's lower lip wobbled last night as I said I was going out. Why? Surely her bedtime story was much more important. But I had promised Tinderbox Theatre Company I would go see their new production at the Baby Grand in the Opera House. by Jimmy McAleavey.
I left her with her dad and big sister, a story just beginning, all three of them now in an imaginary forest. I was ordered to battle my way out of the bedroom through the trees, which I did.Ìý
Then no looking back, escape, into town, marvelling at the fact that I was out on a saturday night, even if it was for work (we're reviewing the play on artsextra tomorrow).Ìý
Hey, Saturday night in Belfast rocks. I passed the smokers puffing away outside various pubs. ÌýDiners in restaurants. A girl tottered past me on unfeasibly high night out high heels. Hooked on to her fella's arm she looked great, he looked chuffed, but I felt old as I wondered how she could be out without a coat.Ìý
Inside the baby grand. A packed house.Ìý
I like going to see plays on my own. Don't feel the same about the cinema, always feel odd on my own, but I love the theatre. The playwright was there. I had opted for a middle seat a few rows from the back. Jimmy was in the front row, at the far right. This is his first full scale production with Tinderbox. ÌýBelfast born, he was Oxford educated and heÌýwears his intelligence lightly. But you can see he is a bag of nerves. So much so that during the first half I keep glancing over at him to see how he's doing.Ìý
The interval comes after 55 minutes. I phone home to see how the two are doing. They're asleep.Ìý
Our interval comes at the same time as The Sound of Music. The place is bouncing. Children wild eyed at being up so late rush past me on the stairs. Their dad, a step behind, clutching melting pots of ice cream.Ìý
I head for the bar, a black coffee. And find myself standing beside the playwright. I have genuinely enjoyed the first half. Ìý
Set in Belfast in 1977, it's about the Troubles - the victims, the bombings, the direction you are coming from, walking to signalling your religion, the stasis of the place. Then, into the middle of it all comes a whale, spotted in Belfast Lough . Jonah, the Bible, Melville's Moby Dick and the true story of Dopey Dick who came up the River Foyle. I have a photo of it given to me years ago by my brother.Ìý
I like Jimmy's writing voice & style. It's funny, original, and refracts back the craziness of that time. Where would you get Ian Paisley, bombings, whales, Mr Tayto and the Cadbury's Flake ad sharing the same stage?Ìý
But Jimmy is in agonies. He thinks the play is slower than the night before and the audience isn't laughing as much. I don't agree, it's a good audience, maybe they're not laughing out loud but it's not a comedy. There are funny lines but I think Jimmy is underplaying the raw energy of his lines, a scattergun of images and ideas.Ìý
I gulp my coffee as the tanoy calls us back in for the second half. And Jimmy's face relaxes as he smiles to someone behind me. His mum he says.Ìý
Maybe the second night is always an anticlimax after the adrenaline rush of the opening night. But I still prefer the honesty of the night after the night before.Ìý
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