Ireland : Feckless Men, Strong Women
“I ofen looked up at the sky an’ assed meself the question – what is the stars, what is the stars? “
Captain Jack Boyle
This play is the centre play of Sean O’Casey’s trilogy set in the early 1920s during the Irish civil war but based in the slums of Dublin, full of families living in poverty. Sean O’Casey called it a tragi-comedy. He had left the cause of Irish Nationalism because his political loyalties were with socialism over nationalism.
I often encounter Irish plays where the fabric of society and family are held together by exceptionally strong women and the men are feckless and who disappoint. So it is with Juno and the Paycock ; Juno (J. Smith-Cameron) is called Juno because many events in her life happened in June. Her husband is “Captain” Jack Boyle (Mark Rylance) self styled as Captain due to the many fabrications he narrates about his life at sea.
At the beginning of the play their daughter Mary Boyle (Aisling Kearns) is not working because she is on strike and their son Jonny (Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty) can’t work being disabled having lost an arm fighting for the Nationalists and being wounded in the hip. Captain Jack is a real work shirker developing a sore leg whenever a job opportunity arises and spending his time in the local hostelries with his equally feckless mate “Joxer” Daly (Paul Hilton).
Mark Rylance is in his element squeezing every drop of comedy out of his part as the scoundrel Captain Jack. He is red of face, wears a naval type cap, has a small Hitler type moustache and tries to bluff his way out of every situation. He swears on the Book of Prayer that he hasn’t been near the bar only for Joxer to inadvertently expose his lie in front of Juno. I laughed at his blatant and outrageous dishonesty but also did not find his character attractive and wasn’t charmed by his deception. He is of course the Paycock of the title, a preening showy bird with no substance; if you will forgive the mixed metaphor, all fur coat and no knickers!
The title is based on the Greek myth about the beautiful peacock asking the goddess Juno to give him the voice of the nightingale. The peacock said that he was teased about his rather pathetic voice. Juno declined and reminded the peacock that he couldn’t be first in everything.
Mary is courted by Jerry Devine (Leo Hanna) but doesn’t return his feelings. Instead she is taken with a school teacher Charles Bentham (Chris Walley). It is Charles Bentham who brings the news that Captain Jack has inherited a part share of his first cousin’s estate estimated to be worth between £1500 and £2000.
The interval after Act One serves for the Dublin flat to be kitted out with new furniture, a sideboard, luxury china and glass, and the arrival of a gramophone, all bought on credit, pending probate on the relative’s will. At a party, we meet one of Jack’s creditors Mrs Maisie Madigan (Anna Healy) a larger than life drinking companion of Jack’s. The party is interrupted by the funeral passing of Robbie Tancred, who has been murdered by Free State supporters because he was a member of the IRA. Robbie’s mother, Mrs Tancred (Ingrid Craigie) comes into the house but is ignored by Jack but Juno comforts her.
J Smith-Cameron on the other hand, as Juno, is long suffering tolerance. She is aware of her husband’s shortcomings but nothing she can say will get him to follow up on a lead for a job vacancy. Captain Jack has borrowed money from neighbours. Losing his temper with Mary, Jack starts to destroy her books because she loves reading. This reminded me that Sean O’Casey had to leave school early after the death of his father, but taught himself to read.
Rylance is all showman as Captain Jack Boyle. His voice always has for me a slight whine, a left over from his native Welsh but his scenes with Paul Hilton’s Joxer will make you laugh if you don’t find their lack of morality, or care for others, reprehensible.
Editor of TheatreVibe.co.uk
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Production Notes
Juno and the Paycock
Written by Sean O’Casey
Directed by Matthew Warchus
Cast
Starring:
Mark Rylance
J. Smith-Cameron
Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty
Aisling Kearns
Leo Hanna
Paul Hilton
John Rice
Caolan McCarthy
Chris Walley
Anna Healy
Ingris Craigie
Jacinta Whyte
Jessica Cervi
Sean Duggan
Bryan Moriarty
Creatives
Director: Matthew Warchus
Designer: Rob Howell
Lighting Designer: Hugh Vanstone
Sound Designer: Simon Baker
Composer: Claire van Kampen
Fight Director: Terry King
Movement: Sian Williams
Information
Running Time: Two hours 40 minutes with an interval
Booking until 23rd November 2024
Theatre:
Gielgud Theatre
Shaftesbury Avenue
London W1D 6AR
Tube : Piccadilly Circus
Telephone: 0844 482 5151 (7p per minute +)
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
at the Gielgud Theatre at the evening
performance
on 4th October 2024
