John McCann’s one man show, DUPed, with its focus on the role of Ian Paisley and the Democratic Unionist Party in the recent history of Northern Ireland, was always going to be interesting to someone like me who grew up in Newry, Co. Down, in the 1950s, and 1960s.
McCann’s perspective on this history is an interesting one. Born in 1972, he lives now in Fife in Scotland, but grew up in Portadown, Co Armagh, a Catholic in a predominantly Protestant and Unionist town. He recalls, as an adult, asking a group of Catholic teenagers, how it may be possible to tell Catholics from Protestants. At the end of a list of fairly stock answers relating to hair styles and pronunciation of the letter “h”, one lad offered a further thought on the matter: “You can tell by the way they drive.”
Exploring this curious and unexpected distinction, McCann was further told: “They drive as if they own the place.” Further enquiry elicited a fuller description of young lads, driving through the town centre, presumably in fine weather, in laid back style, window wound down, right elbow resting lightly on the sill, and left hand resting casually on the steering wheel: as if they own the place.
This actually describes a scene of youthful masculine display, not uncommon in many parts of the United Kingdom; however, the young Catholic man had made the unconscious assumption that that he was witnessing not simply ostentatious pride in the ownership of a vehicle, but an assertion of ownership of the streets on which the vehicle was being driven.
On the other hand McCann also tells how, at the end of one of his shows, a young man came over to him and leaned in, speaking quietly in a voice he recognised as being somewhat like his own, and passed a judgement on the performance: “Absolute Shite!” This mysterious commentator did not pause for a response, but instead, headed for the exit. McCann recalls: “I chased after him, and said: ‘Come and have a coffee. My treat!'” But the fellow was not to be drawn in. “No point!”
Perhaps this critic was one of those young car drivers, who really did think he owned the place. Or perhaps he had his own story to tell and did not have sufficient conviction that it could be heard in such a context.
McCann’s story though, is rooted not just in sectarianism, but in engagement in the struggles for acceptance of the LGBT community, and a woman’s right to free and safe abortion, in Northern Ireland. The DUP have resisted change in these matters, along with other changes in the life of Northern Ireland, making it a place apart in the United Kingdom, not just physically, but also in terms of its political and social life. We all have some sense of this of course, and yet McCann’s case is that, in truth, we are barely conscious of this separate reality.
DUPed is humorous, shocking and touching. McCann had some acquaintance with Lyra McKee and his narrative includes actual recordings of her voice. At the time of her murder, I heard many people say what a wonderful person she was, and could not help feeling that these words were inevitably a somewhat sanctified version of the reality, justified naturally by the circumstances of her death. Hearing her voice, and more importantly the sentiments which she was expressing, created a more significant impression of her integrity and courage, perhaps best expressed in the story told by McCann of the friendship which had developed between Lyra and DUP MLA, Pam Cameron, following a Twitter spat in which McKee had commented with some frustration on the use – more accurately mis-use – by the DUP, of a petition of concern, to block equal marriage legislation, which at that point had actually been passed by the Stormont Assembly. Pam Cameron though, had shown some openness to the idea of equal marriage and so this looked like hypocrisy, and Lyra did not hold back in passing judgement.
At the suggestion of her husband, Ms Cameron asked McKee to meet up for coffee. Lyra agreed to the meeting and on encountering Pam Cameron, immediately apologised profusely for the tone of her tweet; from that point a friendship between the two had developed.
This story is fundamental to McCann’s thesis that it is the lack of such face to face encounters which is holding change back in Northern Ireland. He engagingly explores the reasons why such conversations are difficult and how they may actually take place.
Such difficulties are not unique to Northern Ireland and any person with an interest in the road to a more open and tolerant society, will learn something from this show.
DUPed
Written and performed by John McCann
(Scotsman Fringe First Award-winning Show 2018)
Show reviewed: Theatre Royal, Dumfries, Weds 26th February
Also on at Lochans Community Hall, Thursday 27th February
Carruchan 