QUIETLY TAKES SOHO THEATRE BY STORM
Last week, Owen McCafferty’s Irish drama Quietly opened at Soho Theatre, starring the brilliant Patrick O’Kane. The production, which won the Fringe First Award at last year’s Edinburgh Festival, centres on the lives of two Northern Irishmen who, although total strangers, share a violent past. Ian (played by Declan Conlan) threw a bomb through a pub door when he was 16, the same age Jimmy (our own Patrick O’Kane) was when his father was killed in the blast. This powerful, intense look at The Troubles, is a story of grief and forgiveness which has once again been hailed by critics for facing issues of continuing importance in modern Northern Ireland.
“It’s like watching an eggshell try to contain a landmine – a truly remarkable evening.” Rachel Halliburton, TIME OUT, ****
“Patrick O’Kane is riveting as Jimmy, glowering with pent-up rage: you flinch every time he moves… Quietly excellent drama.” Sarah Flemming, FINANCIAL TIMES, ****
“O’Kane bristles with explosive anger… the play shows – more powerfully than any other depiction I have seen – how the Troubles still dominate Belfast’s everyday life and is timely reminder that wounds that deep don’t heal so easily.” Anna McKie, THE GUARDIAN
Quietly plays at London’s Soho Theatre until the 22nd June 2014.