The Rare Oul Times

On Thursday 29 March Ballymoney Borough Arts Committee are delighted to welcome back to Ballymoney Town Hall the Nomadic Theatre Company with their award winning show The Rare Oul Times by Ken McElroy.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Mar 2012, 09:40 BST

Set in 1950’s Dublin, the action takes place in the back bar of John Ryan’s famous Bailey Pub in Duke Street, where the audience are eavesdroppers as two of Ireland’s most outrageous and notorious drinkers and literary figures, Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh, discuss with great humour their successes, failures and love lives.

The energetic and pacey dialogue highlights the complexities of both men, their fiery temperaments, their love of the written and spoken word and their frustrated longings for recognition. It emphasises their different upbringings, the streetwise Behen from the tough tenements of North Dublin and Kavanagh from an impoverished farm in rural County Monaghan, upbringings that honed their talents as playwright and poet.

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The Rare Oul Times allows Behan to be at his most outrageous and Kavanagh to be at his most vitriolic, and as in life, the humour, poetry, songs and pints of porter flow as fast as the river Liffey itself.“The audience stood to applaud and raised their glasses to this pacey little production.” Arts Extra, BBC Northern Ireland

The performance begins at 8pm. Tickets £9, concessions £5 are available from Ballymoney Town Hall 028 2766 0230.