The Passion Of The Playboy Riots

Chapel Playhouse

Reviewed – 28th July 2019

★★★★

“He embodies an almost sinister wholesomeness, aggressively polite and self-contained”

Based on the writings of Lady Gregory and W. B. Yeats, Neil Weatherall’s ‘The Passion of the Playboy Riots’ tells of Ireland’s fight for independence and the clash in Irish literature between art and propaganda.

We’re invited backstage to three of the most important and controversial works in twentieth century Irish theatre: Yeats and Gregory’s ‘Cathleen ni Houlihan’ in 1902, JM Synge’s ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ in 1907, and ‘The Plough and the Stars’ in 1926. Yeats (Neil Weatherall) and Gregory (Vanessa Corradi), old friends, sit in the wings for each, commenting on the audience’s response- sometimes enamoured, but mostly scandalised. In the first, an eager and very green Patrick Pearse (Justin McKenna) comes backstage to shake the hand of his literary hero, and perhaps show him some of his own writing. Yeats promptly snubs both his literary efforts and his political views (he believed in direct action where Yeats and Gregory felt strongly that this would be ineffective). Pearse would of course go on to be one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1926, and thereafter tried without a jury and shot.

Justin McKenna has an unfair advantage having already played this role back in 2017, but he could not be better cast. He embodies an almost sinister wholesomeness, aggressively polite and self-contained. He also manages to transform himself into ‘Padraig’, the actor playing Pearse in the final play; jovial and light of heart, with none of the weight of Pearse’s political impulses. McKenna does so with no aesthetic change, still the audience knows immediately that we’re not watching the same man.

Weatherall and Corradi have a great chemistry on stage, though Corradi seems sometimes a little stiff. However, this might not be so apparent in a larger auditorium – the audience was, after all, only a foot or so away.

Beside the period costumes, there’s little in the way of staging or props, but there’s no need – the body of the play is carried in its dialogue.

Before both the first and second acts, director Cameron Bell addresses the audience, announcing first “I don’t like this play, I think it’s dreadful”, and later, “See what I mean? It’s really dreadful.” It’s certainly unexpected and has the effect of putting the audience at ease to an extent, but it does seem a little out of place in the general structure of the show. Bell also asks that the audience play the part of ‘the audience’, clapping and booing when cued. This is the sort of audience participation I’m absolutely fine with, and it’s not often you get to boo something outside of a panto.

At only an hour, this show certainly packs in a lot: it’s both political and intimate, and peppered with enough dry wit to see us through its historical weightiness. I’d love to see it extended to a full two-hour performance, but perhaps it’s best to keep the audience wanting more.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by Cameron Bell

The Passion Of The Playboy Riots

Chapel Playhouse

This show is an Edinburgh Festival Fringe preview – click on the logo below for more details

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Blood Tales | ★★½ | March 2019

Connecting | ★★★★ | March 2019

Freak | ★★ | March 2019

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