Juno and the Paycock – Gielgud Theatre

Juno and the Paycock is widely regarded as Sean O’Caseys’s theatrical masterpiece.  Set during the Irish Civil War in 1922 the first act starts almost as a melodrama with  ” Captain” Jack Boyle( Mark Rylance) and his dissolute companion “Joxer” Daly (Paul Hilton) indulging in drunken excess and an attempting to avoid all forms of work while dodging the wrath of  Juno Boyle (J.Smith-Cameron), the redoubtable female head of the household.

The impoverished family’s fortunes seem to take a dramatic turn for the better when they are informed that Jack Boyle has received a large inheritance from a relative.  As the second act opens, we see them in the same rundown dwelling, but now bedecked with new expensive furnishings and the family wearing new clothes for which they have run up large debts on the expectation of the receipt of the promised funds.   The inheritance turns out to be an illusion, as the wording of the will is revealed to be faulty, throwing the family into a major financial crisis which is only worsened by personal tragedies suffered by the son and daughter.

Matthew Warchus’s production at the Gielgud Theatre brings out the full contradiction between the comic interactions between the family in the first act and their  gradual disintegration as progressive tragedies strike them.  The ending is grim indeed.

The cast was strong. Mark Rylance as Jack Boyle made full use of his comic talents to bring out the humour in the first part of the play. With a small Hitler style moustache, he looked a bit like a dishevelled Charlie Chaplin.  Much of the audience had clearly come to see his performance and he played up to them perhaps a little too much in breaking the fourth wall and putting in some excessive business for extra laughs.  Paul Hilton was excellent as his friend and partner in crime who had the wonderful line that he was grateful that of all the Doyles’ friends he was glad he was so poor that he had not lent them money!  J. Smith-Cameron gave a very strong performance as the wife and effective head of a household struggling to keep the family together as crisis after crisis hit them.

The set designed by Rob Howell was a realistic depiction of the interior of  poor dwelling in Dublin with a backdrop of a dilapidated multi-story tenement, but I did not understand the symbolism of breaking the set apart in the final scene to reveal a large religious statue on scaffolding complete with falling snow when the action seemed to be continuing in the same dwelling room.

Playing until 23rd November, https://junoandthepaycock.com/ticket-information

Reviewer: Paul Ackroyd

Reviewed: 5th October 2024

North West End UK Rating: