Banbridge RFC will play host to the internationally acclaimed play ‘The Rare Oul Times’ on September 24th. The play, written by past president Ken McElroy and performed by the Nomadic Theatre Company, follows the bar room exchanges between two of Ireland’s most volatile drinkers and literary figures, Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh.
Set in 1950’s Dublin the action takes place in the back bar of The Bailey Pub, where the audience are eavesdroppers as two of Ireland’s most volatile drinkers and literary figures, Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh, discuss with great humour their lives, loves, successes and failures.
The energetic and pacey dialogue highlights the complexities of both men, their fiery temperaments, their love of the written and spoken word and their frustrated longings for recognition. It emphasises their different upbringings, the streetwise Behan from the tough tenements of North Dublin and Kavanagh from an impoverished farm in rural County Monaghan, upbringings that honed their talents as playwright and poet.
The Rare Oul’ Times allows Behan to be at his most outrageous and Kavanagh to be at his most vitriolic, and as in life the humour, poetry, songs and pints of porter flow as fast as the river Liffey itself.
The Rare ‘Oul Times has been been on the road periodically since 1999, and following the performance at the rugby club, Ken will be taking his play to Munich, follow up shows in England and Ireland.
Find out more about the play at www.rareoultimes.co.uk.
Ticket information to follow.
