OVERVIEW

• Playwright

  Bill Morrison 

• Adapted / Translated From

  Brian Moore (3)

• Author Notes

  Based on Brian Moore's 1966 novel of the same name.

• Synopsis

  The scene is Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the early stages of World War II. Seventeen-year-old Gavin enlists in the war effort to escape the responsibility of continuing his education and getting "a real job". Gavin joins the A.R.P. He has a totally negative self-image and convinces himself that he is just "a second son that will never amount to anything". He'll never be as successful as his older brother Owen, and will never meet his father's expectations of him. Gavin's adolescent fantasies of power and achievement - sometimes sexual, sometimes iconoclastic - always rest on a knife-edge of indecision and powerlessness, of shame and humiliation. But these fantasies, and his father's equally self-serving political/philosophical beliefs are put to the test when the bombs fall. It seems that Hitler has found Ireland on the map! This changes everything.

• Play Type

  Adaptation/Translation
  

  Number Of Acts

  Full-Length

Cast size

• Male

  15

• Female

  10

• Total

  25

• Cast Notes

  Cast doubling is possible. See original production for details.

Original Production

• Date of First Production

  28 April 1977

• Producer

  Produced by Abbey Theatre/Amharclann na Mainistreach

• Original Venue

  Abbey Theatre/Amharclann na Mainistreach
  

• Venue Notes

  Produced on the Abbey Stage.

Source Of Information

The information for this entry was taken from the original production programme.