REVIEWS REVIEWS
Brendan Behan experienced prison and from it came this play based on the prisoner in the condemned cell. Grey is the colour of the set by David Roper, but this play is anything but. Each character is different and each actor shows how to get to grips with the issues in the play as they affect their character. Kathy Burke shows sensitive direction with a subject that affects each person on the stage and in the audience differently.
The Quare Fellow is the name given to the unfortunate who inherits the condemned cell. Two warders have the job of sitting with him through his final night of life, not something that they find satisfying. The day before two men arrive carrying small cases and proceed to pass their time in the local pub after peering at the prisoner, wearing a warders cap. They have travelled over from England from the pub that they run to perform their part time job at eight o'clock the next morning. We see the prisoners dig the hole that is to take the body and be the venue of visits from the curious. All the inhabitants have their own problems, thoughts, worries whether they are prisoners, warders or lay people. How they all deal with these problems is the purpose of the play and is for you to go to see. Each actor gives a great performance as they fit into the intricate web.
This Oxford Stage Company production is a chilling night at the theatre which the audience appreciated as they took each inference in and digested its implications. Make an effort to see this play, and it will show you what has been put into the past by a civilised society. © BA
“The Quare Fellow” is at York from the 6th of April to the 10th April, 2004.
