Red Ladder – The Parting Glass on 17 September

Quite a few years ago I went to the Lyric theatre in the West End to see the Eugene O’Neill classic play Long Day’s Journey Into Night, which dealt with a family’s destruction.

The stars were Jessica Lange and Charles Dance and when it was over I marvelled at the ability of Ms Lange to play a woman who disintegrated so much during the course of three hours of intense acting and not be affected herself after a lengthy run. I have just had the same feeling about an actress, Alyce Liburd, who wrung every ounce of feeling out of a play which lasted but an hour and in which she was not the one suffering the breakdown.

Alyce Liburd (Sara) and Tom Swift (Jim) Photograph by Anthony Robling.

I’d be untrue to the play if I didn’t inform you that during the mid 1980s I suffered a mental episode which caused me to be referred to a psychiatrist who did what psychiatrists did in the 1980s by diagnosing ME, also known as Yuppie Flu, and discharging me after three meetings, leaving me to sort myself out, which thankfully I did.  It is no wonder that men are loathe to discuss these things.  This is also why I was so impressed by the acting as my then wife was the one who was really suffering, by having to live with someone acting so irrationally and whom she could not help.

The Parting Glass is a play written by Chris O’Connor and deals with the subject of male mental health. It is a two-hander about Jim, played by Tom Swift, who is one of the lads, with his life revolving around the pub, the betting shop and Leeds United. There is a hint of what is to come when he informs us of his Saturday routine, which is a few beers at 11.00am, the bookies at 2.00 and on to the ground for the match.  He said that, unlike his two mates, he doesn’t bother with safe bets in order to win a few pounds, but goes for the chancier ones where the rewards are greater.  Although said in a throw-away manner I thought that this was the key to the whole play, in that it illustrated that there was no middle ground for him; it was either all or nothing, a high or a low which is the main indicator of a bi-polar disorder. The lager was taken in copious quantities and the football chants were sung at full voice. At this point, everything seems to be going well and when he meets Sara, played by the aforementioned Alyce Liburd, the world is wonderful.

Both of the lovers have been mistrustful of full-on relationships in the past, but this seems to be different until his ‘cloud’ descends again.  He had had episodes before, but nothing too heavy and he gets over them by sitting on the wall on the roof of his block of flats with his legs dangling over the edge, watching the stars.  Jim’s cloud grows darker and heavier until he feels the need to break up with Sara, a move which devastates her but causes him no feelings at all.  Finally, some months later, after texting Sara in the early hours, they meet up again, but by this time he is too far down the line and goes up to the roof.  This is not a spoiler as the programme warns of strong language, themes of depression and suicide.

Unlike Eugene O’Neill, Chris O’Connor does not take us on a trip to the Gothic, apart from a vampire weekend in Whitby, but portrays Jim as a normal bloke.  He feels unable to talk about his condition to his friends, who promptly change the subject, and even plays down the symptoms when he finally decides to see a doctor. His only release is the football match, where everyone is free to show their emotions by singing, shouting abuse at the officials and even shedding tears after a loss.  Otherwise, he feels as though he has to bottle everything up.

Not a barrel of laughs, you may surmise, but you’d be wrong.  Because of Jim’s facade, he is cracking jokes all of the time, although the wisecracks grow progressively less funny and more desperate.  The enactment of his meeting Sara was truly superb, not original but beautifully executed.  It was the technique used in The Affair and many other works where the same situation is viewed through the eyes of the various participants, with Jim saying how suave and confident he looked when serving Sara a wrap from his mate’s food van in the market whilst juggling the bottles of chilli sauce and mayonnaise, like Tom Cruise in Cocktail, and Sara describing him as being nervous and vulnerable.  She graduated in psychology at London University, which impressed him even though it was a Desmond (2.2).

The acting was superb by both performers but I am again going to have to mention Ms Liburd, whose timing was impeccable, not only in delivering the straight lines but she would also put many a stand-up comedian to shame with her pauses of just the right length.  None of this is to take anything away from Tom Swift, who is a Leeds actor and making his professional debut in this production.  He was extremely good and ran the gamut of emotions, but the way that Sara transformed from feisty girl with a whip smart sense of humour to shedding real tears at the end was something to behold.  I predict that we will be hearing an awful lot more of both of them.  I do have some form here, as the O’Neill production in 2000 had, as the last actress on the cast list, Olivia Colman.

The direction by Rod Dixon was spot on.  The two characters each began with a short individual delivery to the auditorium, welcoming us and thanking us for coming.  I didn’t get this until right at the end when it was repeated and I realised that it was the eulogy for Jim rather than interaction with the audience.  The set by Ali Allen comprised a grey backboard with wall lights to imply that we were in a pub, and a low and high bar table to give not only the same feeling but also to depict the top of the flats and various other episodes in the story. The lighting and sound, which were both subtle and effective, was done by Tom Blackband, who is also the tour manager.

I must also make mention of another play, The Girl Across The Street, which was performed by its writer, Tony Spirit, as a warm up to the main event.  It was (mainly) one-man’s reminiscences of Northern Soul all-nighters and all-dayers back in the 1970s and 80s.  It was very amusing and moving at the same time.

Here are further dates for these performances:

Wednesday 18 September 7.30pm, £3
BITMOs GATE Community Centre
Aberfield Gate, Belle Isle, Leeds LS10 3QH

Thursday 19 September 7.30pm, £7 (inc free drink)
Shaw Lane Sports Club, Shaw Lane, Barnsley S70 6HZ

Friday 20 September 7.30pm, £5
The Grove Hall, The Grove, Stockingate, Pontefract WF9 3QF

Friday 18 October 7.30pm, £5
Hunslet RLFC, South Leeds Stadium, Middleton Grove, Leeds, LS11 5DJ

 Saturday 19 October 7.30pm, £6, £5 adv
Queens Mill Heritage Centre, Aire Street, Castleford WF10 1JL

Do you have a story to tell?
We want to hear your stories and help you share them.