Juno and the Paycock

Juno and the Paycock is the second in Sean O'Casey's Dublin Trilogy which also includes The Shadow of A Gunman and The Playboy of the Western World.

Set against the backdrop of the Irish Civil War the play looks at a family bumping along at the bottom of the heap until they receive the promise of riches to come. A promise that eventually proves as empty as the stories that work-shy Johnny Boyle tells to his drinking buddies. This is a dark view of Dublin tenement life for people on the edge of employment, poverty and armed rebellion. Superficially comic and yet deeply moving the play is perhaps a little overwritten for modern taste but worth sticking with as the style is as much a part of the story as the squalor and the heartache.

Gemma Bodinetz's production moves along at quite a pace which keeps the story front and centre. The staging designed by Conor Murphy is visually impressive and allows great flexibility and fluidity. Nimah Cusack as Juno and Donal Gallery as her husband Johnny provide credible, multi-faceted performances - she as the woman struggling to keep a family together and he as a man struggling to avoid work at any cost! Louis Dempsey as Johnny drinking buddy is a delight and the remainder of the cast turn in very creditable performances.

An excellent production of a play that is not easy to stage and keep lively; a most enjoyable evening of theatre