Saturday 27 May 2000

Thy Kingdom Come, Daniel Lillford, May 27, 2000


By Daniel Lillford
La Mama at the Courthouse May 27 until June 10, 2000
Reviewer: Kate Herbert

The opening scene of Thy Kingdom Come is exceptionally well written. In fact, it was originally a discrete short play until writer, Daniel Lillford, developed it into the script we see today.

Two young Belfast men stand enshrouded in mist on a muddy field they remember from childhood. One (Ezra Bix) believes he is to be knee-capped for sleeping with the daughter of an IRA leader. He has no idea of the actual punishment awaiting him at the hands of his childhood friend, Brian. (Joe Clements)

Lillford writes striking dialogue. It ducks and weaves, surprising us with its truth and metaphor. He captures the Northern Irish idiom impeccably, as do Clements and Bix.

What follows the opening is almost a series of playlets with common on- and off-stage characters threaded through them. Two women (Helen Hopkins, Carolyn Bock OK) talk in a pub. One is the lover of the doomed man in scene one. She too is fated.

Two republicans (Justin Foster & Bix) hold and torture a hostage but are caught in a British attack. A young woman (Bock) awaits a friend at a bus-stop cafe with a love-starved boy (Foster) and a canny old Irishwoman (Maureen Hartley). An older journalist (Jim Shaw) writes a book about The Troubles, to the chagrin of his young lover. (Bock)

The vignettes are hooked together with patriotic monologues from IRA soldiers, funeral speeches and outpourings of grief, rage and loss from ordinary citizens.

The play highlights "the politics of hate" which rule and ruin the face of Ireland. In this play, an irrational, clannish, primitive, superstitious and parochial Ireland is eating itself from the inside as much as it is lashing out at England.

The dialogue, characters and relationships are Lillford's strength in this text. The narrative and structure need some re-jigging. Performances are all very good although a couple of accents need some attention.

Direction by Kevin Hopkins and Greg Carroll is sleek, swift and innovative. It is enhanced by dramatic lighting (Ian Patching) and a throbbing sound design. (John Scott)

The opening scene is re-incorporated at the end when the assassin (Clements) seeks absolution from a priest. (Shaw) Is there any such thing for sins against one's own people?

By Kate Herbert


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