Paul Hilton (Joxer Daly) & Mark Rylance ('Captain' Jack Boyle) in Juno and the Paycock at the Gielgud Theatre. Credit Manuel HarlanIt’s 1922 and impoverished Ireland is being torn apart by civil war. In Dublin’s rundown tenements we find the sharp tongued, long-suffering mother of the Boyle family Juno, J. Cameron-Smith struggling to make ends meet, while her feckless husband consorts with ne’er-do-wells and vagabonds, preferring to waste his time in the snugs of local hostelries, than seek paid work. A surprise change in the Boyles’ fortunes comes courtesy of a bequest from a deceased distant cousin and things change very quickly for the family as they begin borrowing against the promise of their future wealth. One thing’s for certain, their lives are about to change drastically.
Rob Howell’s set and costumes verge on the macabre in their realisation of the dank squalor of the period. With the resented British Empire presence providing a backdrop which is woven with humour into a stigmatising catholic society, the play is populated with an array of lively, wiley and sometimes unsavoury characters, who get through life by dreaming, harking back to the past, moaning and existing — but rarely do they consciously plan for the future.
Paul Hilton extracts maximum comedic effect from his part as the cowardly and sycophantic leech ‘Joxer Daly, while Aisling Kearns and Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty provide the unwitting tragedy of the piece as daughter Mary and son Johnny, ably supported in this endeavour by Chris Walley as the uptight Charles Bentham and Leo Hanna as Jerry Devine. Whilst Rylance’s twitchy and hilariously mannered turn eclipses all-comers, the supporting actors add immeasurably to the colour and vibrancy of this character-heavy piece. And, just when you think things have settled, be prepared for a bundle of energy performance at the top of the second half from Anna Healy as Maisie Madigan who grabs the stage as though it were a whisky bottle with her name on it.
Finally, as Juno exclaims in resignation “What can God do against the stupidity of men?” there is a tangible moment of reflection for the audience, as we consider the current parlous state of the world under man’s stewardship. A mother’s damning exclamation has never resonated more acutely.
