Seeing the promotional material for Soda Bread Theatre’s production of Marie Jones one-man play ‘A Night In November‘ so filled with football imagery didn’t fill me, an avid football un-enthusiast, with a lot of hope. However having seen quite a few Marie Jones penned plays before (Dear Arabella, Sinners) I had some confidence in the playwright. The play is directed by her son Matthew McElhinney and stars Matthew Forsythe.
A Night in November tells the story of Kenneth McAllister, a clerk in the local welfare office. Kenneth is a Belfast Protestant who has followed all the rules. He loved who he was supposed to love. He lived where he was expected to live. He fought who he was taught to fight. That is, until one night — a night in November — when he did the most exciting, outrageous, crazy, mad thing he’d ever done.
I needn’t have worried, the first act takes off like a rocket with Matthew Forsythe switching parts like a mad man, but with military precision. Under Matthew McElhinney’s direction the bare stage and few grey boxes are all that’s needed to take us through the whirlwind events that make the first act almost a stand-alone play. Lying somewhere between Scrooge and Reggie Perrin, in the second half, Kenneth decides to leave it all behind and cross to the other side, where he realises that hate really is no way to truly live. It’s a testament to the writing that a play that wears its heart so obviously on its sleeve never becomes over-wrought or cheesy.
Marie Jones exploration of tribalism in Northern Ireland is raw, funny and brutally honest. This is a production to be proud of and one that could open the eyes of anyone who comes to see it.
‘A Night In November’ is on at The Lyric Theatre until the 21st June before going on tour. More info here.
