A sordid and repulsive evening in the theatre. Cool review, eh? Sounds like some tight-assed response to Trainspotting, right? Well, that s exactly how one critic responded 40 years ago the last time The Ginger Man was staged in Dublin. He was not alone, and the production was closed down almost immediately by our moral guardians.
Part of the reason it hasn t been staged since is because the novel on which it was based, by J.P Donleavy, was defined as a pornographic work until relatively recently. Then again, David Murray, who plays Sebastian Dangerfield in the new production (at the New Theatre, 43 Essex Street, Dublin s Temple Bar, from July 13th) admits there is a lot about the lead character Dangerfield that is both sordid and repulsive. For example, he just may have originally defined laddish culture in a theatrical context a notion that is made all the more plausible these days, given that there is actually a worshipful website for dear Sebastian!
I know about that and this play does hook into retro laddish culture, to an amazing degree, opines David. Strangely enough, though, he rejects the idea that Dangerfield, fifties man-about-town in Dublin and London, as with many contemporary lads , is a misogynist.
No. The way I see it (is that) he loves women but he has no problem being violent to them. But you look at the old movies with James Bond hitting women and nowadays that is seen as romantic . That he wasn t being politically correct and he was having enough respect for them to deal with them as equals.
By hitting women he was treating them as equals?
Yes, says David. At least, that s the only reading I can possibly take from why anyone would accept, say, why this guy could be such a violent bastard on stage. But, though we are taking a revisionist look at this play, we don t cut out the violence. But, though in the book there are lots of times when he s seen as hitting people, in the play we have only one scene where he exercises that violence and then the rest is simply intimidation, Dangerfield threatening the woman a lot. It s more the threat of violence, which I think is more intimidating than if he keeps walloping the woman around the place.
The same apparently is true of director Ronan Wilmot s decision, not to labour the specific sex scene that originally led to the play being banned.
Well, then what was offensive was just the idea that this guy would have sex with his landlady he s married but once we establish they are going to make love there s no point in bringing the lights down and having them moaning and groaning on stage. That may have been daring in 1959, but these days it d be a bore. Suggestion is much more powerful, as far as I m concerned. And that s the level at which we re presenting this play. And I think it works.
That said, David Murray knows he has a hard act to follow taking over a role that is so deeply associated with Richard Harris. He admits that the aspect of interpretation which worries him most is not so much the primal energy and physical presence Harris brought to the part but his great charm .
I honestly believe you have to get that balance right to make this guy acceptable, he suggests. If all we present Sebastian Dangerfield as is a brute, with no saving graces, then it will be a failure. And we talked to JP about this and he said that the actual person the character is based on, Gaynor Crist, had great charm, that all his friends spoke highly of him, loved him, in fact. So we have to get that across. And that s what is suggested by the dialogue, great wit and charm, alongside the sheer physical presence of the man. I m sure Harris was able to achieve that balance. And I hope to God I can as well.
Another aspect of this particular production which excites David Murray is the fact that it is being staged in the Temple Bar area.
Well, that s why we play down all the attacks on the Church, for example he explains. Go to the Abbey or the Gate and that older crowd might find that is something they can relate to. But a younger
audience just doesn t care about such things. But even if younger
audiences don t care about that aspect of life in the 50s, they do, it sems,
find fascinating the way men and women behaved at that time. Whether you want to call that laddish
culture, sexist or misogynist . It s like the fascination kids have for Sinatra and the clan these days. So, on that level alone, I think young people will find The Ginger Man quite
fascinating. n