Reviewed by Malcolm Calder
Auckland Arts Festival
In the Name of the Son– the Gerry Conlon Story
By Richard O’Rawe & Martin Lynch
Rangatira, Q Theatre
Until 17 March
Green Shoot Productions, Belfast
Featuring Shaun Blaney
Stage Manager Sinead Owens
There’s something about a standing ovation. Especially when it’s totally impromptu and anything less would either seem churlish and suggest one had possibly been asleep for the last 80 minutes or so.
But that’s what Shane Blaney received at the end of In the Name of the Son at Q theatre on Thursday night. And rightly so.
My initial thoughts were that we were going to get yet another a diatribe about political injustice during the Troubles. But I needn’t have worried. This was merely a context for a story about Gerry Conlon’s personal journey and traces his successive leaps following a 15-year mis-sentence through to international recognition and a descent that plumbs the depths of the human spirit. Ultimately however, it demonstrates the triumph of that spirit over extreme adversity which makes for a very good story indeed.
It seems so long ago now – the IRA Guildford Pub bombings Four and the political upheaval that eventually resulted in their being freed after 15 years in prison. But I remember it well. What I was unaware of however was Gerry Conlon’s journey.
In the Name of the Son achieves this by introducing us to many, many characters and Blaney swiftly skips from one to the other with impeccable timing, sparkling wit and he wrings remarkable depth from each in this one-man show. There are so many I lost count but they are colourful and they are memorable. Blaney even manages to slip in a memorable one-liner from Jack Nicholson and a goodly chunk of Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ while in toilet at the Oscars.
The play even manages a subtle side-swipe at Daniel Day Lewis and other cinematic A-listers (the film was the titled ‘In the name of the Father’, a dramatization of the political side).
In the Name of the Son by Gerry’s lifelong friend Richard O’Rawe and Martyn Lynch tells it as it was. And Blaney delivers it switching seamlessly between the different genders, ages and accents of those who played a role in Conlon’s fascinating story. That is what makes this otherwise harrowing tale of injustice worth nothing less than the standing ovation he received at opening night.
New Zealand Arts Review 