Pits & Perverts, the critically acclaimed first stage play by local Derry man Micheál Kerrigan, encapsulates themes and events which regretfully define an era of struggle which we disdainfully remember as the Thatcher years. In a world in which the Iron Lady herself declared “There is no such thing as society”, it seems quite ironic that inequality was the social norm.
The play itself is centered on the largely unknown but fascinating alliance that formed during the Welsh miner’s strike of 1984 between the lesbian and gay community, in the form of the Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners group (LGSM), and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). We follow the story of Sean, a young homosexual man who leaves Northern Ireland for London at the height of the Troubles and becomes involved in the LGSM. Two rough and ready miners from South Wales soon come to stay with Sean and his partner Gene, not realising they are a gay couple, and the plot unravels itself beautifully from there.
Our set, staged in the living room of a 1980s London apartment, soon becomes a charming melting pot of class, gender, and social backgrounds. The story embraces the different extremes which existed in their purest form during the peak of capitalism’s power. In this mix we have Sean, our main, excitable protagonist, who has left Ireland after his best friend Jim is murdered on Bloody Sunday; Gene, a vocal coach and Sean’s live-in partner; Candida, Gene’s student… a talented singer albeit stuck-up snob from London’s affluent Chelsea district; and David & Rhys, two welsh minors who have unassumingly come to stay with the gay couple in order to raise awareness in Westminster for the Welsh miners’ cause.
The play itself is executed beautifully. The first introduction of the two welsh miners and their slow realisation that they are sharing a single bed in a living room belonging to two homosexual men, is universally hilarious and the art of subtle comedy is acted to perfection. Throughout the play there are themes of dueling morality, tangled preconceptions, biased classism, and pain mixed with outright hilarity. Some scenes bring our own conflicting past to the fore when Rhys states that he knew a Welsh soldier who said serving in Northern Ireland was his most difficult tour of duty. When Sean asks Rhys why his soldier friend thought that, Rhys profoundly replies “He said ‘because they were just like us’”. Later I saw an audiences eyes well up when the ghost of the friendly Jim appears over Sean’s shoulder during a particularly stressful moment and, reliving what he used to do when they were younger, simply breathes steadily with him to calm him down, then leaves the powerful scene in silence, as casually as he entered it. I have since discovered that the character of Jim is based on Kerrigan’s real life childhood friend, Jim Wray, who was murdered on Bloody Sunday aged 22.
The acting is superb. The cast offer vibrant, honest, and energetic performances, while the accents which are staged are indistinguishable from the ones that aren’t.
Conor Maguire plays Sean with passion and flare. His performance is as energetic as it is realistic. Michael Johnston is phenomenal as the Canadian gay partner, Gene. Johnston’s performance is equally as convincing and his accent had my mother, a native of Toronto for 6 years, convinced that he was a real Canadian. Orla Mullan as Candida offers an amusing mix of small minded upper-class disdain concluding with the eloquent warmth of a rich London housewife trying to make sense of the class war going on around her. Her singing voice is immaculate and it adds a melodic charm to parts of the play. Jason Davies, a welsh native and son of a miner, plays the role of David with solid charm. Along with Patrick Buchanan, with his on-stage grace and immaculate accent, I cannot speak highly enough of their portrayal of two stereotyped men adjusting to a world which is completely alien to them, only to reason with its charms and embrace its honesty. The cast, in full, were magnificent.
Pits and Perverts is a fantastic accomplishment as Micheál Kerrigan’s first stage play, and director Patricia Byrne has helped bring it to life and has presented it in its full potential. As we are guided through laughter, prejudice, and pain, each character’s struggle with the oppressive forces of government and social biases around them offer every member of the audience the familiar wisdom that we can all struggle… but one way or another, together, we can all triumph.
You can catch Pits & Perverts at The Lyric Theatre until 11th October. More info here.
