Matthew Warchus’s production gets the balance of light and shade in Sean O’Casey’s play perfectly balanced – but some of the dialogue feels a little bit muffled.
By turns heartbreaking, humorous and intense, Sean O’Casey’s play really manages to pack a punch no matter what approach it uses, with Matthew Warchus making the most of every moment involved.
Set in the tenements of Dublin in around 1922, Juno and Paycock evolves around the story of one dysfunctional family who try to make ends meet while essentially living in poverty. The Boyle family is made up of ‘Captain’ Jack Boyle who is filled with tall tales in regards to his short lived career as a merchant seaman and now extremely reluctant to work to provide for his family, his wife Juno who does everything in her power to keep her family together being the only one working, daughter Mary who is currently on strike from work and son Johnny who is disabled having lost his arm in the war of independence.
But their fortunes look set to change when a visitor Charles Bentham arrives at the family’s home to say that Jack is set to inherit a fortune from a recently deceased relative. It is a play that is filled with humour and drama in equal measure that reflects on human resilience under difficult circumstances.
This production is very much a tale of two halves, in the first half there is plenty of comedy (with one particular great set piece involving Jack trying to hid his friend Joxer in fear of the arrival of Juno) involved that helps to develop how we see the characters, while the second is more focused on the drama to reveal what we have learnt from the first act has help us understand how they cope with the events in the second (longer) act. There is a real change of tone that thanks to Warchus’s steadily paced production that keeps the audience invested to the end – even with some shocks along the way.
Throughout every twist and turn along the way, Warchus manages to get the light and shade of every aspect of the story and character just right to allow the audience to feel a whole range of conflicting emotions towards all of the characters. It is just a shame that in places the dialogue is slightly muffled (even if you are sitting in the stalls – I’m not sure what it would be like sitting upstairs) so it feels certain moments are missed.
With Rob Howell’s rustic and almost claustrophobic set design, the sense of pain and suffering of the majority of the family is intensely felt – particularly when Johnny’s trauma and guilt in what happened to his friend Robbie Tancred brought to the forefront, while Jack’s selfishness and isolation from the rest of his family seeps through as well.
In terms of the performances, J. Smith Cameron as Juno really shines through – she offers by turns a feisty, compassionate performance depending on which character she is speaking with that really brings to life the portrayal of an Irish mother doing her best under difficult circumstances. The rawness of her emotions is passionately felt.
Mark Rylance as Jack Boyle offers a wonderful contrast in the nature of the character: from the comical, drunkenness of the character in the first act (the set piece of where he is debating whether to eat the breakfast left for him by Juno is nicely done) to the vicious, selfishness of his character in the second act shows just how greatly versatile he can be. However, I did feel (and there were those sat behind me who felt the same) that some of his lines could have been clearer.
In support, Aisling Kearrns as Mary offers a sweet and intelligent performance that captures the character’s increasing vulnerability and uncertainty well, while Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty as Johnny is heartbreaking to watch as his inner conflict and turmoil takes hold of him.
Overall, there is much to be admired about this production of Juno and the Paycock – just a little more clarity dialogue wise so that the audience can catch every word of this brilliant tragicomedy would make it perfect.
By Emma Clarendon
To book tickets visit: London Theatre Direct, Love Theatre.com or London Box Office.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐