In some ways, Owen McCafferty’s play
revisits the territory of Trevor Griffiths’ 1975 classic
Comedians. But where Griffiths
showed a whole group of trainee comedians before, during and after
their tryout gig, McCafferty deals with one wannabe funny man only, and
centres on four individual gigs from “shithole” to arena. The central
pressure is the same: how far to compromise for success. However,
McCafferty’s three-handed structure – comedian Steve Johnston, his
girlfriend and candid adviser Maggie and his new agent Doug – makes for
a much simpler dynamic. It’s difficult to avoid the recollection of
Doctor Faustus with his Good and Evil Angels whispering into each ear.
Brian Doherty, under Soho supremo Steve Marmion’s direction, gives a
fine, detailed performance as Steve. From gig to gig, not only the
cadence patterns of his delivery change as he gradually jettisons
political and social references and retreats into “observational”
material and plain lies, but his very accent shifts from identifiably
Irish to a regionless, classless blare. Katie McGuinness gives firm
support as Maggie, but it’s always clear that she will at some point
fade into the background, leaving Steve to deal alone with the
temptations offered by Shaun Dingwall’s motormouthed Doug… who never
gives instructions, merely invites Steve to think about various points
and relies on his insecurity and ambition to do the rest.
McCafferty is artist in residence at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, and
this marks the first ever cross-Irish-border co-production between the
Lyric and Dublin’s Abbey, along with Soho itself. About a year ago Soho
hosted the Abbey’s production of McCafferty’s pared-down, intense
Troubles memory drama
Quietly.
Alas, neither the writing nor the performance of
Death Of A Comedian can match that
work’s pressure-cooker power. Compromise-for-success and Faustian
temptation are not exactly neglected themes, and the use of stand-up
comedy as an environment does relatively little to freshen them up. The
comic material is fairly up to date (although even here McCafferty
exaggerates by implying that a 2015 mainstream British comedy audience
would be alienated by a single F-bomb), but overall – notwithstanding a
final moment of tension which may be real or imagined – it’s a
disappointingly simplistic treatment.
Written for the Financial
Times.