Tensions simmer at lunchtime
Two gang bosses meet in a graveyard to end the cycle of savagery – but are they in too deep?
Idle Wild
Smock Alley
In Greek mythology the Hydra was a fearsome beast that could grow two heads for every one of its heads that was cut off. There’s a strong element of that in modern gang warfare and political organisations that start small and evolve into latter-day Hydras, for whom killing is just a branch of the business. And gangland leaders can even develop a touch of glamour with catchy nicknames.
Have killers any moral basis to their lives, any notion of common humanity? Or is their activity just a self-renewing ritual of recrimination and revenge to show you’re not weak, with little hope of the cycle ever ending?
Jimmy Murphy’s new play takes on those questions through The Rev (Rex Ryan) and Donal (Ruairí Heading), two wealthy gang leaders, once close buddies, now sworn enemies with multiple intergang and inter-family killings behind them. They’re meeting in a graveyard to dig up the grave of a murdered former friend as part of an attempt to end the recurring savagery of friends and family casually disposed of.
It’s less about the individuals than a reflection on the mentality of big-time crooks, where the other side always starts the trouble and there has to be a brutal response to show who’s boss. The monster has its own standards of insane logic. The Rev has ‘become committed to the work’ of supply and demand in the world of drugs. For Donal it’s all about a decent life for his kids. Their digging becomes a metaphor for excavating their own lives and their crimes, explaining their motivations and justifications.
The Rev has come out of jail speaking of redemption and forgiveness, quoting from the scriptures. But his change of heart has only expanded his understanding of how to become a more ruthlessly psychotic criminal. He’s a bit like The Godfather’s Michael Corleone, able to live mentally on totally opposite levels. They are ultra-efficient in dealing with their loot, made from the most repulsive criminality, while grieving for fallen relatives and friends.
There’s a kind of black humour underlying their arguments. Donal was only giving women equality when he shot them. The Rev is a good man who only kills bad men. People who buy their drugs are the ones to blame. Respectable people doing drugs are the real criminals. Jimmy Murphy doesn’t find it necessary to portray characters from poor backgrounds as either foulmouthed or stupid. The writing is sharp and witty, chilling in its reality and graphic detail, although it edges into preachiness in places.
Rex Ryan and Ruairí Heading play very well together, suspiciously tense and guarded, although Ryan had a tendency to lower his voice too much in places without projecting it.
But the real question remains. Could the sacrifice of one gang boss bring about an end to savagery? The myth of the Hydra says it couldn’t.
‘Jimmy Murphy’s writing is sharp and witty, chilling in its reality and graphic detail’