Brendan at the Chelsea 2013 Programme

Brendan at the Chelsea received support from AcNi, tourism irelANd, British couNcil, culture irelANd, BelfAst city couNcil, iNvest NortherN irelANd, ANd NortherN irelANd BureAu.

foREWARd

by mARK CARRuTHERs oBE, Chairman, Lyric Theatre

LYRIC THEATRE presents Brendan at the Chelsea

CAsT In oRdER of AppEARAnCE

It is fitting that of all the plays performed in the rebuilt Lyric Theatre since we re-opened in 2011, this particular one should be chosen for our first tour to new York.

There is the obvious connection with manhattan, whose streets Brendan Behan walked and in whose bars he drank. But perhaps less obvious to this new York audience is that Brendan at the Chelsea was the first production in the naughton studio, our new, smaller, experimental theatre designed to incubate new writing and from which work is encouraged travel. That this highly successful production, which attracted some of the best critical reviews ever seen in Belfast, has travelled to the city where it is set is an endorsement both of the quality of Janet Behan’s writing and Adrian dunbar’s extraordinary performance and sensitive direction. But the journey west, to what Behan called “America, my new-found land”, would not have been possible without the support of several key organisations and individuals. Just as Behan in his great book on new York remembered the people who had helped him, I feel similarly obliged – and very happy – to thank the Lyric’s many loyal supporters:

• Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland

• Niall Gibbons, Alison Metcalfe and Aubrey Irwin of Tourism Ireland

• Norman Houston and Lorraine Turner from the Northern Ireland Bureau

• Andrea Haughian of Invest NI

• Grainne McVeigh, Chief Executive of NI Connections

• Peter Stafford, Chair A&L Goodbody

• John Fitzpatrick OBE and Shane Cookman, Fitzpatrick Hotel Group Jim Clerkin, CEO Moët Hennessy USA for his longstanding generosity towards, and support for, the Lyric

f ifty years ago Brendan Behan took new York City to his heart and in turn the city embraced him. The Lyric Theatre hopes today’s new York theatre-goers embrace this production and recognise their city and themselves on stage in our home from home on 42nd street.

Belfast, August 2013

by JAnET BEHAn

AdRIAn dunBAR Brendan

sAmAnTHA pEARL Lianne, as cast

RICHARd oRR George, as cast

pAuLInE HuTTon Beatrice

CHRIs RoBInson don, as cast

CREATIvE TEAm director

set & Costume designer

Lighting designer

pRoduCTIon TEAm

BELfAsT

Artistic director

production & Technical manager

Company stage manager

deputy stage manager

Technician

set Builder

AdRIAn dunBAR

sTuART mARsHALL

JAmEs mcfETRIdGE

RICHARd CRoxfoRd

KEITH GInTY

KATE mILLER

TRACEY LIndsAY

JAmEs KEnnEdY

JIm CARson

Wardrobe supervisor pAT musGRAvE

production Assistant

marketing and Advertising

press and public Affairs officer

nEW YoRK

marketing & Advertising

CAT RICE

LoRRAInE mcGoRAn

AnnE mAddEn

dIsCovERInG oz

dARIEn BATEs

LIAnnE RITCHIE

BILL updEGRAff

BETsY BATEs

JERRY mARsInI

Tour public Relations

press Agent

project manager

JoHn LEE mEdIA

mEdIA BLITz

BECK LEE

sTEpHEn douds

programme note

by JAnET BEHAn

Throughout my childhood, the name Behan was famous the world over. It seemed as though one Behan or another was in the papers on most days - dominic for his songs, my father Brian for manning the picket lines and addressing the downtrodden masses in Trafalgar square, Brendan for his wit, for his writing, for his wayward behaviour. on some days these brothers made the headlines for battling against the establishment, on others simply for battling each other. not long after a six-year-old Brendan enrolled at st v incent’s school, one of the nuns told his mother, “mrs Behan, you’re rearing a genius.” she wasn’t the only one that thought so and the label followed him about for the rest of his life. I was frequently asked, “Was your uncle really a genius, or just a drunk?”.

I’d defend him stoutly but, tellingly, I didn’t dare to read anything he wrote until I was in my twenties, just in case I was wrong. When I finally opened Borstal Boy I was utterly blown away. The author of this book may or may not have been a genius (whatever that is) but he was certainly much, much more than “just a drunk”.

Alive, Brendan had the ability to sharply divide opinion. To some he was a hero, to others a drunken bowsie and a disgrace. since his tragically untimely death he has continued to be all things to all men. It would be impossible for any play to encompass every aspect of his wild and complicated life; in writing this one my intention has been to get under the skin of the ordinary, albeit hugely talented, human being who rolled out of bed in the morning, ate, wrote, made love, had dreams, ambitions, nightmares, who loved life with a passion, had so much to live for and spent a fair proportion of most days killing himself all the same. That’s the man I’ve tried to find; he won’t be everybody’s Brendan, but he’s mine.

“It’s nice to see Brendan remembered. He was always good to the old folk and he loved little children. When he used to throw pennies for children, and later on it was shillings and half crowns, he used to get anxious in case some of the little ones wouldn’t manage to get any of the money.”

Kathleen Behan, Brendan’s mother.

“It is nonsense to think, as some jealous people have done, that his drinking was an attempt to blow up a minor talent or deliberately play at being a genius. His talent was, I believe, far greater than the media ever appreciated. But it did not include a gift for peace of mind or contentment. It seemed as though he wanted to kill an inner demon, some troubled state he could not live down. I remember him once saying, quietly and a little sadly, “I’m not the enjoying kind”. But the fact that the drink killed not only the inner demon but the whole man cannot detract from his great talents as an artist.”

david Astor, editor of the observer 1948 -1975

“While other writers horde words like misers, Behan sends them out on a spree, ribald, flushed and spoiling for a fight.”

Kenneth Tynan, theatre critic

“God Bless him. He was an awful fuckin’ nuisance.”

A dublin publican.

new York’s Brendan Behan

by JoHn p. HARRInGTon

John p. Harrington is dean of the faculty of Arts and sciences at fordham university

of the many celebrated Irish writers received with wonder in new York City, Brendan Behan was unique.

His most notable predecessors were: oscar Wilde, who addressed crowds at the Academy of music and famously expressed disappointment with the niagara falls; William Butler Yeats, who addressed crowds at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, dismissed American drama in its entirety, and passed his time in new York by reading Jane Austen; and George Bernard shaw, who, at the conclusion of a world cruise, berthed in new York for 24 hours and only deigned to debark the Empire of Britain to address his crowd at the metropolitan opera House.

By comparison, Brendan Behan, in town for the opening of The Hostage on september 20, 1960, walked the streets, haunted the bars (while abstinent), and told the New York Times that his greatest ambition while in new York was to “sneak down to the Empire state Building in honor of King Kong.” He found his crowd in mcsorley’s, a historic and distinctly ungentrified alehouse on the Lower East side. He addressed his audience through the television platforms of the Jack Paar Show and the David Suskind Show. Both the play and the playwright brought energy and novelty that new York welcomed. of the play, norman mailer said, “new York was dead in those days. Brendan Behan’s The Hostage broke the ice.” He said the play “made the beatnik movement – Kerouac, Ginsberg, myself and others – respectable and uptown.” The primary new York Times theater critic of the time, Howard Taubman, described the play as “organized chaos,” with “splendid hits in the course of this fusillade,” and concluded that “mr. Behan is an original and so is The Hostage.”

Behan’s abstinence could not survive new York and well-intentioned new Yorker drinkers, and the consequences are wonderfully dramatized in Brendan at the Chelsea. But even that decline had the effect of bringing Brendan closer to the real new York. He of necessity relocated from the mid-town Algonquin Hotel further downtown to the more tolerant Chelsea Hotel. There he and Beatrice Behan connected with long-term residents such as Katherine dunham, a West Indian native who used dance as contribution to the American civil rights movement, and George Kleinsinger, a composer whose work included street Corner Concerto and Brooklyn Baseball Cantata. Their very different personal narratives all meet at the Chelsea, and new York is grateful to the Lyric Theatre of Belfast, itself a new and energetic addition to new York cultural life, for reminding us of figures including Brendan who embraced new York literary, theatrical, and bohemian cultures. At the Chelsea, and in Brendan at the Chelsea, Behan dictated what would become Brendan Behan’s new York. The book that appeared after his death opened: “I am not afraid to admit that new York is the greatest city on the face of God’s earth.” some of the resonance of that sentiment in 1960 and Ireland today is evident in the lyrics of the popular “Celtic punk” band The pogues’s song “Thousands are sailing” about Irish journeys to new York and “manhattan’s desert twilight”: “in Brendan Behan’s footsteps/I danced up and down the street.”

Biographies

Janet BeHan playwright

Janet was born in south London in 1954 into a communist household. she graduated from the Central school of speech and drama in 1975 and worked more or less steadily in the theatre until the birth of her first child in 1988.

she toured northern Ireland with Interplay in the ‘70’s, was a company member at The Lyric, Belfast from 1981 to 1982, played polly peachum in The Beggar’s Opera at The druid in Galway in 1984, among many other things.

After her first son was diagnosed with autism and it became clear that acting work was not going to fit in with his care, Janet began to write. she was originally commissioned to write a stage version of Brendan Behan’s new York and that process proved to be the inspiration for Brendan at the Chelsea. she is currently working on a novel, a book of short stories and the next play.

Janet is married to a Belfast man, Tv director dermot Boyd; they met all those years ago in the bar of the old Belfast Lyric and they’ve been together ever since.

adRian dunBaR director/ Brendan Behan

previous theatre credits include: Conversations On A Homecoming (Lyric Theatre); The Shaughraun (Abbey); Girl With A Pearl Earring (Haymarket Theatre); Boeing Boeing (Comedy Theatre); Exiles (Royal national); The Tower (Almeida Theatre); Pope’s Wedding; Saved; Up To The Sun And Down To The Centre; King Lear (Royal Court); Pentecost (Tricycle); Ghosts (Young vic); Real Dreams; Danton Affair (RsC); Ourselves Alone (Royal Court /Liverpool); Who’s A Lucky Boy (Royal Exchange); Copperhead (The Bush Theatre).

Theatre directing credits include a reworking of Philadelphia, Here I Come! with Brian friel, Carthaginians and Brendan at the Chelsea at the Riverside studios in 2008 and again in 2011 at the Lyric theatre, when it featured as the opening production in the brand new naughton studio. Tv credits include: frost; Mo; Silk (ITv); Ashes To Ashes; Child Of Mine (Kudos); Whistleblowers (Carnival); Quartermass Experiment; Melissa; The Beast In Man; Reasonable Force; Force Of Duty; The Englishman’s Wife; Drowning At The Shallow End (BBC); Suspicion; Tough Love; Cracker (Granada); Murder In Mind (BBC/paul Knight); Murphy’s Law (Tiger Aspect); The Jump (Warner sisters); Woman’s Guide To Adultery (Carlton); Statement Of Affairs (Wall To Wall); The Dawning (Lawson productions - Ch4); The Fear (Euston films).

film credits: Kidnapped (BBC); Mickybo And Me; A World Apart (Working Title); Triggermen (T-men prod); How Harry Became A Tree (paradox pictures); Thanks For The Memories (scala); The General (Little Bird Co.); Richard III (first Look International); The Near Room; Innocent Lies; Widow’s Peak (British screen); The Blue Boy (BBC scotland); The Crying Game (palace pictures); Hear My Song (Channel 4/ British screen); My Left Foot (ferndale films); The Crawl (Broadsheet).

Adrian was BAfTA nominated for co-writing Hear My Song and nominated for Barclay’s TmA Best Actor of the Year Award 2002. Adrian is an Associate of the Guildhall school of music and drama and in 2009 he was made a doctor of Letters by the university of ulster.

Pauline Hutton Beatrice Behan

pauline trained at The samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College dublin.

previous work at the Lyric includes: Brendan at the Chelsea, The Cavalcaders and Christmas Eve Can Kill You.

Recent theatre credits include: Yerma (The West Yorkshire playhouse); Crestfall (Theatre 503); Macbett; The Penelopiad; Macbeth (RsC); Family Stories (The project Theatre, dublin); Drama At Inish; Heavenly Bodies; Iphigenia At Aulis; Translations; The Chirpaun; Melon Farmer; On Such As We; Give Me Your Answer Do! (The Abbey Theatre and peacock); Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Gaiety Theatre) Antigone (project Theatre); Midden; The Whisperers (Rough magic Theatre/Traverse Edinburgh); Tea Set (a one woman show) (Bewleys Theatre); Zoe’s Play (The Ark, dublin and Kennedy Centre, Washington); Romeo and Juliet (second Age Theatre Company); The Lonesome West (druid); Translations (An Grianán).

film and Tv credits include: Five Minutes Of Heaven (oliver Hiesbiegal); Omagh (Bafta winner for Best drama) (Channel 4 films); The Closer You Get (donegal films); Mad About Mambo (John forte); This Is My Father (paul Quinn); Glenroe (RTE); Paths To Freedom (Grand pictures); Day One (Grand pictures/RTE).

Radio credits include: Scenes From The Saville Enquiry (RTE); Oedipus at Colonus (BBC Radio 4/ RTE).

RicHaRd oRR George, as cast

Richard was born in Belfast and trained at manchester polytechnic school of Theatre.

Richard has performed in over 20 productions for the Lyric including: The Wizard of Oz, Brendan at the Chelsea, The Importance of Being Earnest, Wuthering Heights; Of Mice and Men; The Taming of the Shrew; Arms and The Man; All My Sons; Pinocchio; John Bull’s Other Island; The Miser and toured to the usA with the Lyric’s production of Philadelphia, Here I Come!. other theatre credits include: King Lear; ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Theatre Babel); Biloxi Blues (manchester Library Theatre); Fathers and Sons (stanislavski Theatre studio Washington dC); Borderland (7:84 scotland); Mojo Mickybo (uK and Ireland tour); Massage (C21) and leading roles for Tinderbox, Replay, Borderline (scotland), the Arts Theatre, Charabanc and prime Cut, in addition to many Christmas shows and pantomimes. Tv credits include: Eureka Street; The Vikings; I Fought The Law; Made In Heaven; Give My Head Peace.

film credits include: As The Dust Settles; Mad About Mambo; The Magnificent Ambersons; The Most Fertile Man In Ireland; Titanic Town; Best; Cherrybomb; On Dangerous Ground; Five Minutes of Heaven; Hood Felt Hate.

Radio plays include: Take the Bus; Staring Into The Fridge; Xmas Eve Can Kill You; The Boy Who Thought He Was An Elephant; Mind’s Eye.

Richard won a peacock award for The Wizard of Oz (Arts Theatre).

SaMantHa PeaRl Lianne, as cast

samantha trained at the oxford school of drama.

Theatre credits include: Venus/Mars (old Red Lion) Clean (oran mor.), Scarberia (York Theatre Royal), Bravo 22 Company (Theatre Royal Haymarket and the Edinburgh festival 2012), Sole Fide (The sixty-six Books season at the Bush Theatre), Dirty Butterfly (RAdA), Dancing Bears and Dream Pill (soho Theatre), How To Be An Other Woman (Gate Theatre) and as viola in Twelfth Night (national Theatre).

Tv Credits include: samantha has been seen starring in Lee Nelson – Well Funny People for Avalon Tv.

cHRiS RoBinSon don, as cast

Chris was born in Carrickfergus but now lives in London. He trained at Bretton Hall.

Lyric Theatre credits include: Brendan at the Chelsea, Forget Turkey, PlayRights (24hr play project); Group (Lyric, Belfast/ Edinburgh festival).

Theatre credits include: Over the Bridge (finborough), Carthaginians (Irish tour dir by Adrian dunbar), A Comedy Of Errors (Theatre at the mill/ uTC), Pvt Wars (Grand opera House/ Pintsized), Miniaturists (Arcola Theatre), Service (nilon/ Theatre 503), Aladdin (Greenshoot productions/ Waterfront Hall), The Gathering (Theatre Abandon);

Diary of a Madman / The Old 100 (Concert version at Theatre Royal drury Lane); A Bunch of Bees (Arcola Theatre); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Rawlife); The Maids (C21/ Belfast festival); Have a Nice Life (pleasance, London); The Clandestine Marriage; Hush (mill studios); We All Fall Down (Replay productions); Time Quest; Robin Hood (Waterfront); James Young (Group Theatre and Irish tour); Murder In The Cathedral (ulster Theatre Company); Jump!; Young Man with the Cream Tarts (sneaky productions); Loot (omAC).

Tv and film credits include: : Regional variations (sitcom pilot), The Boys From County Hell (Chris Baugh/ nI screen), Breakfast on Pluto (sony pictures); Call of the Dragon (Westminster films); The Machine (British film school); Snooze (make films); Pretty Face (dir: fintan Brady); Wee 3 Cranes (stirling productions); The Day Mountbatten Died (Blakeway/BBC); Teethgrinder (BBC); I Am Who I Am (Lee Ryan music video) and A Touch of Frost (Yorkshire). Radio credits include: How to Cope (BBC Radio ulster); Romantics and Revolutionaries (Radio 4); and two series of Don’t Make Me Laugh (BBC Radio ulster).

StuaRt MaRSHall set and Costume designer

previous designs at the Lyric include pictures of Tomorrow; The Crucible; Dancing at Lughnasa; Of Mice and Men; Dockers; La Chunga; Little Shop of Horrors; A Night in November; Macbeth; As The Beast Sleeps; Paradise; Charlotte’s Web; To Be Sure; The Hypochondriact and The Absence of Women.

other designs include A Place with the Pigs; American Buffalo; Dealer’s Choice; Shopping and F***ing; Suburban Motel and Vincent River (prime Cut productions); The Winners; Transparency and National Anthem (Ransom productions); The Chairs; Pentecost and Revenge (Tinderbox); The Diary of Anne Frank; The Beauty Queen of Leenane and Sive (Bardic Theatre); Fairytaleheart and Bulletproof (Replay productions); Red Noses (uAYd); Over the Bridge (Green shoot productions); Bog People and The Country Boy (Big Telly); The Tailor’s Daughter (Belfast festival, Grand opera House); Sisters (City Theatre dublin, Edinburgh festival and 59E59 new York); My Name is Rachel Corrie and This is What We Sang (Kabosh); Fishers of Men (Brassneck); The Gut Girls and The Old Lady Says “No!” (Brian friel Theatre, Queen’s university).

stuart’s recent work as a scenic artist includes The Medium and Tosca (nI opera); Dancing Shoes (GBL productions); Cinderella (marketplace Theatre Armagh); Christopher and His Kind (mammoth screen for BBC); Mo (ITv studios for Channel 4) and Your Highness (stuber productions).

JaMeS c McFetRidge Lighting designer

James has had a long association with the Lyric Theatre, and is delighted to be back for the first show in the brand new naughton studio. He was the lighting designer for the last show in the old Lyric before they knocked the building down, though these two events are probably unrelated.

previous lighting designs for the Lyric include: Stones in His Pockets (including the West End and Broadway productions, as well as uK and World Tours); A Night In November (and the subsequent Australian Tour); As The Beast Sleeps (and the transfer to the Tricycle Theatre, London); The Tale of Beauty and the Tail of the Beast; Howl!; The Beauty Queen of Leenane; The Wizard of Oz; Bah, Humbug!; Much Ado About Nothing; Arms and the Man; Sleuth; Once Upon A Mattress and Marching On.

other lighting designs include: Alone It Stands (West End, uK and Irish Tours); Godspell; Our Jimmy; The Mikado and My Fair Lady (Grand opera House, Belfast); Greenstick Boy (Edinburgh and dublin fringe festivals); Our Town (millennium dome).

James is also a published author. His first novel has been shortlisted for a literary award and is due to be published in Germany next year.