Fancy a bit of Tarantino-esque drama played out right in front of your eyes? Then get along to the Abbey to see the excellent Drum Belly.
With buckets of blood (literally), mouthfuls of swearing (literally) and a very stylish set, soundtrack and fashions, Drum Belly at the Abbey is as far from a sedate theatre experience as you can get.
And that’s a very good thing. There is no danger of you dozing off during Drum Belly, the latest work by ‘Hurricane’ writer Richard Dormer. In that play, Dormer brought the wild life of Alex Higgins to the stage and in this one it is mobsters, not snooker players, who end up with a pocket full of problems.
Set in New York in the days around the moon landings in 1969, the play follows the travails of a bunch of Irish/American gangsters as they stumble from one messy job to another. The play begins with Harvey Marr (Liam Carney) delivering a long tale of his latest misdemeanour while some very unpleasant business goes on in the background.
From there we meet a whole host of other mobsters, all of whom are tied to Harvey in ways we don’t yet know. By fantastic use of period tunes (The Stooges get a right good airing a few times during the play), a cracking dance number (trust me) and great fashions of the time we are lured into liking these thoroughly dislikeable characters, all led by Gulliver Sullivan (Declan Conlon). The arrival of Sullivan’s nephew from Belfast adds another wrinkle to their already complex lives.
Sullivan is deeply in love with Ireland, even if it is a romanticised version of the place, and the familiar Irish tropes of emigration, religion and drink are scattered throughout the play in a manner that for once feels fresh.
The attention to detail in the show is great and even the set changes are done with a panache that means you never disengage from the action.
The nods to Tarantino are clear but never overdone and the dialogue and performances are top class. Be warned, it is not for the faint-hearted (there were some audible gasps at some of the more gruesome stuff the night I went) but violence is part of the world we are dropped into and it all makes sense in that context.
Drum Belly feels like a movie played out in real time in front of your eyes. Go see it now before somebody makes the film. You won’t regret it.
Drum Belly runs at the Abbey Theatre until May 11.
