02 August 2021

Brendan Behans Teapot - 7th Oct 21

‘BRENDAN BEHAN’S TEAPOT’  

written by Neil Titley and performed by Jim Boylan

7th October 2021 at 7.30 pm in Keats Community Library, Keats Grove NW3

This event was twice postponed, the last time due to C******. Now your chance to see this hilarious story told by an Irish actor

Who was Brendan Behan (1923-1964)?

A Rabelaisian, raucous, foul-mouthed, hugely talented writer and pub raconteur, he spent most of his early life in and out of English and Irish jails because of his Republican activities.

These experiences gave him the material for his novel ‘Borstal Boy’ and his two great plays ‘The Quare Fellow’ and ‘The Hostage’. His death aged 42 was hastened by his chronic alcoholism. 

Our performer: JIM BOYLAN

Jim Boylan is an experienced actor who nevertheless settled for a career as a Consultant Psychiatrist (and who retired in 2016 after 33 years as a front-line clinician including 12 years as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist).

His theatre portrayals include such leading roles as: Pastor Manders in Ibsen’s ‘Ghosts’, Reverend Hale in Miller’s ‘The Crucible’, Claudius in ‘Hamlet’, the title role in ‘Macbeth’, Falstaff in ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor, Bottom in ‘The Midsummer Night’s Dream’, King Rat in ‘Dick Whittington’ and Prof Plum in ‘Cluedo’.

He wrote the script of ‘Dandelions’ for the ‘North of Watford Theatre’ and is currently a company Member of the Foundry Theatre Project (Darlington Hippodrome). The sharp-eyed may have spotted him in the TV advert for ‘Fasttrackreclaim.com’

Jim Boylan writes on ‘BRENDAN BEHAN’S TEAPOT’:

‘I became beguiled by Behan after researching his character for this production. Against the backdrop of his idealistic and somewhat naive Irish republicanism Behan did a jig into the spotlight of the 1950s and early 1960s theatre scene and held a mirror up to the moral hypocrisy of institutions such as the state and organised religion.

A brief and brilliant firework of a playwright before his untimely death, Behan was at heart a humanist. He was both wonderfully witty and fatally flawed and it has been a tremendous challenge and an honour to try and capture his essence on stage.’

Tickets are £10 from Keats Community Library (020 7431 1266) ; On line from www.wegottickets.com - click here

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