Chronicles of Long Kesh

A play set in and about the infamous Northern Ireland internment camp in the 1970’s, with pop songs sung a capella. Mmm…..

Well, it’s good to report that it works. There’s no set as such, just an ensemble of six terrific actors , five of whom play multiple roles. It moves from angry to sad to funny to poignant on the turn of an actor from one role to another. The pace is fast, the precision is astonishing and the ‘gallows humour’ is delicious.

At the time it was on my TV and in my newspaper almost daily, yet when I read the programme before it started I realised how much I’d forgotten. Though it doesn’t take sides, there is a risk (particularly for those who weren’t even alive then) that it will bury the evil many of these people were responsible for and even glamourise  them as ‘lovable rogues’; this made me feel a little uneasy and would be my only reservation for what is otherwise an original idea executed with real panache.

The Q&A with the cast afterwards explained why it was so slick – these people have extraordinary chemistry with each other and seemed like lifelong friends rather than acting colleagues.