Writer: James Joyce
Director: Michael James Ford
It’s always immensely gratifying when a cultural encounter not only feeds your soul but entertains you as well. From their depiction of one of Aidan Hickey’s “Painting Ulysses” pictures (Hades) in their promotional literature to their wonderful stage adaptation of James Joyces’ ‘Grace’, Terry O’Neill and Michael James Ford have assembled a marvellous Christmas treat for theatre goers. Even the stained-glass windows used as the backdrop of Sandra Butler’s thoughtfully constructed set, serve to remind us of Bewley’s Café’s own Harry Clarke stained-glass artwork. And Clarke was, of course, a contemporary of Joyce.
Written in 1905, ‘Grace’ is one of the fifteen short stories that comprise Joyce’s ‘Dubliners’ – a collection of tales intended to present our city to the world. Another Dublin native, O’Neill, is perfectly cast as Tom Kernan, the bloodied and incoherent unfortunate who has to be picked up from the floor at the bottom of the pub stairs, down which he’d fallen.
What’s especially interesting about this play is that O’Neill doesn’t just portray the part of Kernan but also that of his wife, the narrator, the policeman, the bar-manager, Mr Power, Martin Cunningham, Mr McCoy, Mr Fogarty and Father Purdon, among others. And this the actor does, with considerable talent and energy. Although O’Neill is dressed in an early 20th century appropriate pinstripe suit and occasionally a bowler hat, each and every individual is easily identifiable. Thoroughly inhabiting a myriad of characters and voices over a period of 50 minutes is no mean feat.
We can be grateful that O’Neill didn’t sustain any lingering injuries or trauma to the head in his previous career as an Irish champion boxer because his memorisation of the entirety of Kernan’s Dantesque journey from sinner through purgatory to redemption is as faithful to Joyce’s short story as it could possibly be. O’Neill’s comedic timing is excellent and completely natural. Having to overcome an unexpected bout of coughing early on, O’Neill endears himself to his audience with a witty quip – “Mr Kernan coughs”.
There is just one lag throughout and it is only because interest in all things religious is not the same now as it was in Joyce’s Ireland. And so, when Kernan’s cronies are gathered around his sickbed examining the complicated role of the church in society, the discussion seems a little protracted.
Terry O’Neill’s turn in ‘Grace’ comes on the back of his own hugely successful one man show ‘Rope-a-dope’, which was also directed by Michael James Ford. This partnership is proving to be a fruitful and auspicious one.
If you’re planning on doing some Christmas shopping in town over the coming days or weeks, consider dropping in to Bewley’s Café theatre and catching this worthwhile production. The experience will reward you.
Runs Until December 23rd 2023.
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