February 7, 2007
This is short and pretty sweet (despite all the swearing).
Somewhere in rural Ireland, curmudgeonly old Jack and his nervous friend Jim meet for a drink in their local pub and a chat with young barman Brendan. They know that local boy made good Finbar will shortly be coming in with a pretty young woman he is letting a house to. They are inclined to think he will be trying to get into her knickers; this is roundly condemned as disgusting behaviour in a married man. There’s quite an undercurrent of hostility towards Finbar from Jack – Finbar is loud, superficially jovial, bossy – he got away, made money, throws his weight about, is a womaniser, while Jack stayed put and let the love of his life slip away from him.
Jack feels that he and Jim are on the menu of a sight-seeing tour Finbar has prepared for young Valerie – they are local colour, characters. Out come all their stories – slightly or overtly supernatural, not full-on certificate 18 horror but pleasantly chilling – as the relations between the men charge up with testosterone, spark out, die back into armed neutrality. Valerie is a catalyst, a gentle, pretty girl to whom something very bad has obviously happened; the evening brings her the opportunity to tell her story, too, and receive a measure of comfort from the strangers in whom she brings out the best of their feelings.
All of this is done with very delicious and conscious Irishry – the charismatic Max McGuinness as Jack in particular is so fluent and so convincing that he is a delight to listen to, even though he occasionally speaks so fast that I couldn’t understand what he was saying. Charlie Holt as Finbar was handsome, plausible, just the right amount overbearing; Jack Chadburn as Jim was very touching, a vulnerable, gentle soul; Nat Gordon briskly efficient but given little to do as Brendan the barman, the only one without a tale to tell; Katie Murphy perfect as lovely, wounded Valerie, both looking and sounding truly Irish. It was like a little visit to another planet where the aliens show you what being human really means, and you see the potential of stories both to harm and to heal.
Absolutely gorgeous – thoroughly recommended.
Somewhere in rural Ireland, curmudgeonly old Jack and his nervous friend Jim meet for a drink in their local pub and a chat with young barman Brendan. They know that local boy made good Finbar will shortly be coming in with a pretty young woman he is letting a house to. They are inclined to think he will be trying to get into her knickers; this is roundly condemned as disgusting behaviour in a married man. There’s quite an undercurrent of hostility towards Finbar from Jack – Finbar is loud, superficially jovial, bossy – he got away, made money, throws his weight about, is a womaniser, while Jack stayed put and let the love of his life slip away from him.
Jack feels that he and Jim are on the menu of a sight-seeing tour Finbar has prepared for young Valerie – they are local colour, characters. Out come all their stories – slightly or overtly supernatural, not full-on certificate 18 horror but pleasantly chilling – as the relations between the men charge up with testosterone, spark out, die back into armed neutrality. Valerie is a catalyst, a gentle, pretty girl to whom something very bad has obviously happened; the evening brings her the opportunity to tell her story, too, and receive a measure of comfort from the strangers in whom she brings out the best of their feelings.
All of this is done with very delicious and conscious Irishry – the charismatic Max McGuinness as Jack in particular is so fluent and so convincing that he is a delight to listen to, even though he occasionally speaks so fast that I couldn’t understand what he was saying. Charlie Holt as Finbar was handsome, plausible, just the right amount overbearing; Jack Chadburn as Jim was very touching, a vulnerable, gentle soul; Nat Gordon briskly efficient but given little to do as Brendan the barman, the only one without a tale to tell; Katie Murphy perfect as lovely, wounded Valerie, both looking and sounding truly Irish. It was like a little visit to another planet where the aliens show you what being human really means, and you see the potential of stories both to harm and to heal.
Absolutely gorgeous – thoroughly recommended.