The Quare Fellow at the Abbey Theatre: Gallows humour to the fore in sharply executed Brendan Behan revival
Abbey Theatre, Dublin until January 27
Fighting spirit: Eva Jane Gaffney and Barbara Brennan in The Quare Fellow. Photo: Ste Murray
An all-female and non-binary cast for Brendan Behan’s all-male play sounds a bit gimmicky, but it works spectacularly well. To see meth-addled Barbara Brennan and Gina Moxley, both arthritic and one limping on a crutch, leering at mots out the window of the prison is just so funny. It offers that sweet pleasure of the great big communal guffaw. It is also a massive send-up of masculine lechery.
Tom Creed’s inspired production reminds us of what a great writer Behan was. The first half is all quickfire banter and colourful colloquialism, with a core cast of incarcerated men establishing hierarchies and negotiating prison life. New prisoners arrive, including Lifer, who has murdered his wife with a silver cane, played by a wonderfully shell-shocked Rebecca O’Mara. Lifer’s death sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment, a lucky break for which he is urged to give heavenly thanks. He promptly tries to hang himself with a sheet. All is irony flavoured with gallows humour.
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