Dublin, 1922, the Irish Civil War is tearing the nation apart. In the cauldron of the family’s tiny tenement flat, Juno Boyle, a beleaguered matriarch whose sharp wit is a survival tool, struggles to make ends meet and keep the family together. Her husband, ‘Captain’ Jack Boyle, fancies himself a ship's commander but sails no further than the pub. When providence comes knocking with news of a great inheritance, could the family’s troubles finally fade away?
Poetic, poignant, and hilarious, JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK is a big-hearted, black-humoured, tragi-comic triumph that reflects on a mother’s resilience in the midst of life’s most trying moments.
‘WHAT CAN GOD DO AGAINST THE STUPIDITY OF MEN?’
Tony award-nominee J. Smith-Cameron (Succession’s Gerri Kellman) stars as Juno Boyle opposite Mark Rylance as ‘Captain’ Jack Boyle in a highly anticipated new production of JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, Seán O’Casey's timeless masterpiece, directed by Tony and Olivier award-winner Matthew Warchus (Matilda The Musical, Pride).
__Assisted Perfromances:__
Audio Described, 2 November, 2pm
Captioned, 9 November, 2pm
Signed, 19 October, 2pm
The role of the Captain contains the faintest echoes of Johnny “Rooster” Byron, the iconic part in Jerusalem that made Rylance a star, and he consciously plays to the audience, raising his eyebrows for comic effect and addressing various lines directly to us. He sails dangerously close to giving a “turn” instead of acting a part; his blustering innocent shtick and bent-kneed waddle of a walk is overdone, leaving the series of sucker punch revelations of the third act to land with too much of a discordant jolt.
Director Matthew Warchus has gathered a talented cast, from Smith-Cameron as a formidably watchable presence to Rylance as her peacocking husband. They are never less than entertaining but the show does not stretch them, and the drama of the first two acts is a little too ambling and creaky, with the broad Irish accents and comic dissolution.
1926 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1927 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1934 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1937 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1940 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1988 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1995 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2000 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2013 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2019 | Off-Broadway |
Irish Rep O'Casey Cycle Production Off-Broadway |
West End |
West End |
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