Stuck in the Middle with You is Sam Robinson and Trevor Gill’s latest play, the same team behind One Saturday Before The War. It examines how police on the ground reacted to the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, and it’s fair to say that Lord Patten comes in for a lot of criticism in the script’s dialogue. Though one officer who transitions from the RUC to the PSNI does eventually reflect with more balance on the changed dispensation.
The set is dominated by the shape of a landrover, minus the wheels, sides, roof and bonnet which is mounted on a trolley. The lack of heavy doors and the big step up to get inside leave the coppers jumping in and out of it like someone stepping on and off an escalator.
Richard McFerran plays Norman, a sergeant who once ran informers but has fallen from grace and is now deployed on more mundane duties. As well as taking on the role of an English journalist who is writing about the real experience of RUC officers, Christine Clark plays Gayle, the crew’s designated driver, an officer who has little option but to join in the sexual ribaldry with her male colleagues. ‘4 Bellies’ Marty is brought to life by PJ Davey whose reputation of eating everything in sight is masking other insecurities that slowly come to light. Policing and tragedy run in Winston’s life (Wilson McDowell) and the WB Yeats-quoting gun-toting officer has a personal score to settle on the east of the city. Meanwhile, Officer Ciaran (Glenn McGivern) must suffer abuse and suspicion as a west Belfast recruit in the largely protestant RUC.
Like the modern-day TV series Blue Lights (season two begins on Monday 15 April), there are insights into police humour and behaviour – ask around and you’ll find out what they draw inside each other’s caps – that add authenticity to the accounts.
Over two hours the cast skillfully live out the everyday effect of their characters’ accumulated trauma. Troubles-related episodes from childhood inform adult behaviours on top of the violence and loss experienced while serving. At times the scenes lurch from one anecdote to another, with an officer often recounting their memories while looking out into the distance over the heads of the audience. Would there really be a shouting match between handler and informer in St Anne’s Cathedral? The sudden musical outburst of Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan’s Stuck in the Middle with You cements the play’s title but dramatically comes out of nowhere.
The standout scene comes before the interval when we catapult forward in time, post-Belfast Agreement and post-Patten. Norman is enjoying a quiet pint in a Ramelton pub in Co. Donegal when he recognises an old IRA foe Michael (played by Glenn McGivern). There’s a sense that both men are isolated from their colleagues and trapped together in the room. As the blood pressure rises, their tetchy exchange becomes unfiltered and they become quite honest about their own backgrounds, their discomfort with their changing situation and their hopes for the future. It’s a well-written and well-acted encounter.
The ending is very poignant and reinforces the build-up of repeating trauma that many police officers live with. What happens next to each of them is not fictional, instead anonymised from real officers serving in the mid-to late 1990s.
The script doesn’t dodge collusion and how the police related to loyalist paramilitaries, and were sometimes targeted by them. Neither does it pretend that sexism and sectarian prejudice amongst RUC officers didn’t happen or were excusable. Bright Umbrella are based in a theatre that is just across the road from the interface with Short Strand. It’s good to see local theatre tackling real issues with a sense of openness and responsibility.
Bright Umbrella’s Stuck in the Middle of You finishes its sold out run at the Sanctuary Theatre on Saturday 20 April.
Photo credit: Melissa Gordon
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At last, a good honest review!
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