Now that's the thing. There I was sat in the Library Theatre watching a play about a very serious subject - three guys being held hostage on their 'death row' and I was laughing. I wasn't alone and, yes, at first I did feel uncomfortable laughing with these guys. Laughing with them, not at them.
 | | Alun Raglan (Adam) |
Michael, Edward and Adam are three close-to-breaking-point men, determined not to let their captors know that they are on the edge. So we get drawn into a game of wits against an unseen enemy - "Laugh Michael, you mustn't let them hear you weep". We get to know little about their lives outside of their room ("This is not a cell") as they try to entertain each other with stories and fantasies and little digs that they know will spark arguments. Anything to break the tension and to avoid thinking about the one question that no one ever wants to verbally answer - 'Will we ever get out of here?' It was hard not to think about Alan Johnston, currently being held hostage in Gaza. Is this what he's going through now? Somehow I'm not sure he's be playing out the 1977 Ladies Final at Wimbledon with a fellow hostage, or perhaps he will. The questions start. How would I cope? Could I cope? What would break me? Frank McGuinness' Someone Who'll Watch Over Me is a wonderfully funny play with plenty of pinches of sobering reality, doubts and unanswered questions. Someone Who'll Watch Over Me is at the Library Theatre until 16th June 2007 | 
