The Tunnel – unearthing prisoner experiences from mid-1970s Long Kesh (Brassneck Theatre Company at Lyric Theatre as part of Féile an Phobail until Saturday 16 August)

Terry George’s play The Tunnel was first performed in New York back in 1986. Forty years later it’s receiving its Irish premiere as part of Féile an Phobail on the Lyric Theatre’s main stage. Back then, it would be another 12 years before the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was signed, and 14 years before the early release of prisoners. That must have been a very different environment to perform and witness the play. Minor aspects of the script have clearly been updated for this run, now directed by the playwright, most noticeably to add a gag about how unlikely it would be that a prisoner could become Minister of Education.

The action all takes place inside one of the prisoner of war Nissen huts that became the Long Kesh/Maze jail outside Lisburn. Ciarán Bagnall’s set design captures the curved corrugated iron sheeting and the relatively cramped conditions of the hut, although we only ever see six men in a space that would normally have held many, many more. Prison guards are spied through the hut window but their personalities don’t form part of this inside story.

Top dog Frank is played by Chris Corrigan, controlling the flow of information and keeping order among his fellow inmates with an iron fist, backed up by a supposedly flimsy understanding of Marxist ideology and a Che Guevara poster. ‘BB’ is his right-hand man (Andy Doherty), more brawn than brain, and the internal censor of prisoner mail. Vincent Higgins’s character Barney is in charge of the decidedly home brew but moral boosting efforts to distil poitín. Other background details are gradually revealed – he has been inside half the jails on the island of Ireland and was one of the ‘hooded men’ – before Higgins delivers a final twist.

The enclosed environment with prison officers forever riling the inmates creates a seedbed of suspicion. Every new prisoner is assumed to be a tout until trust is earned, and even long-term mates can find their past reexamined. Joe (Oisín Thompson) is just beginning his ten-year sentence. Harry is a happy-go-lucky trickster who gentle hazes new inmates as part of their induction to life inside with Ciaran Nolan revelling in being the source of most of the show’s humour. Cillian Lenaghan briefly appears in the second act as Francis to advance the plot’s sense of urgency.

There’s a lot of dramatic licence at play in The Tunnel. The familiar and oft-repeated stories and lore that the prisoners tell each other come very thick and fast in the compressed timeframe of the play. The Tunnel mostly avoids hagiography and never indulges in celebrating the deeds that led to the incarceration – fair or framed – of its characters. Neither does it become a sop to republican mythology. While there’s a lot of talk about resisting oppression, George isn’t afraid of showing that the prison guards were not the only people handing out beatings, organising interrogations, and delivering summary justice.

An intense Martin McCann brings the quiet but determined Seánie to life, a republican hero who has turned his back on any ambition to have a leadership role in Long Kesh. Instead, he’s become the most disillusioned of the inmates, ready to question nearly everything that drove him to prison. He keeps his head above water by planning the titular tunnel escape (a fictionalised version that echoes some of the real attempts), egged on by disturbing rumours that have begun to circulate about his family situation back home in Newry. The guys are living in the hut closest to the outside wall, and the ongoing construction of the more solid H-Block accommodation means that time is running out. But there’s a risk that the inmates will be simply digging their own graves?

Garth McConaghie’s percussive soundtrack is based on bodhrán and it feels like we could be listening to the authentic sounds of prisoners enjoying improvised drums during a locked-in seisiún. The song I Believe In Miracles played over the tannoy towards the end of the interval on press night neatly setting up the second act. Rosie McClelland’s costumes also come into their own after the interval, with the soiled digging apparel painting the picture of the unseen strenuous effort.

It’s possible to have empathy for these prisoners – largely due to the external pressures they’re facing on top of their confinement – without sympathising with the reason they are in prison. The story of each inmate’s challenged perceptions and how they have been adapting, dreaming or giving up all hope adds depth. One way and another, all seven men are seeking an escape from more than just incarceration. George has created a cleverly written social history of the experience of republican prisoners in the mid 1970s, a period when he was locked up in the huts around which the play is centred.

Produced by Brassneck Theatre Company and Seamus Productions, The Tunnel continues its run in the Lyric Theatre until Saturday 16 August as part of Féile an Phobail.

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