In August 2007, comedian and television presenter Patrick Kielty took to the stage of Belfast's Grand Opera House for one of the most challenging performances of his career.
While the Dundrum star had graced the stage of the Grand Opera House many times as a stand-up, this time he was a rookie actor starring in a new production of Marie Jones’ controversial one-man play A Night In November.
The play, which was first staged in 1994, is based on the notorious events surrounding the World Cup qualifying match between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland at Windsor Park in 1993. The match took place in the wake of the Shankill and Greysteel massacres and sectarian chants from the crowd cut through the stadium.
Patrick Kielty And A Night In November is a compelling new documentary on BBC One Northern Ireland by DoubleBand Films (on Monday, September 29 at 9pm), which goes behind the scenes of the play to follow Patrick’s very personal journey from comedian to fully-fledged actor.
In doing so the programme hears about the star’s own experience of the Troubles and explores whether audiences were ready for the return of such a provocative depiction of the darkest days of the Troubles.
Patrick plays Kenneth McAllister, a Protestant dole clerk who reluctantly finds himself on the terraces for the Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland match. When he experiences the sectarian chants of the Northern Ireland fans and his own father-in-law, he is so horrified by what he hears that it changes his life forever.
The play, which is part comedy/part tragedy, follows Kenneth as he attempts to explore life beyond Protestantism to discover what it is like to be Irish as he crosses the border for the first time and even travels to New York to watch the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying match.The one-man show is full of laughs but the Troubles act as a sobering backdrop throughout the production.
Taking the role was a big step for Patrick Kielty. Not only did he have to carry the play himself, but he was an Irish Catholic playing an Ulster Protestant in a play which harked back to some of the worst times of the Troubles.
Speaking about what attracted him to the role, Patrick says: “The minute that I realised how big a piece it was and how difficult it was going to be, all of those things then made me become more attracted to it and more scared, but in a really weird way, as the fear built the attraction built.”
The play’s successful run, while enjoying packed out houses in Belfast, London and Dublin and receiving largely rave reviews, also coincided with the 20th anniversary of the murder of Patrick’s father during the Troubles.
Speaking about his father’s death, Patrick says: “You don’t become bitter because of the man that he was. One of the reasons why he was killed was because he was a very high profile businessman who was employing both sides of the community. And so if you’re brought up with a set of principles that he’s instilled in you then, if he’s not there, then the only way you can honour him is to continue with the set of principles that he’s actually, up until that point, given you.”
While many people praised the restaging of the play, others criticised its return for resurfacing the bad feelings and memories of this period of the Troubles.
A Night In November’s author Marie Jones says: “People would say, well, what’s the relevance of the play? Well, if you rule out all plays that deal with our political and historical past you would rule out a whole canon of Irish theatre. I mean would you have any of O’Casey’s plays?
“Now, to me, A Night In November is about one man who is unhappy in himself, he’s unhappy because he’s racist, he’s sectarian, he’s got his prejudices and I think that can be universal. Really, it’s about one man’s journey to change how he feels and he has to change his whole way of life, his whole way of thinking. So I did get a bit of flack when it came on this time, but, you know, I weathered the storm sure, I’m still here.”
Patrick Kielty And A Night In November is a gripping documentary which captures a remarkable time in the career of one of our brightest stars and which remembers some of our darkest days.
Dermot Lavery, producer of Patrick Kielty And A Night In November, says: “The decision to cast Patrick Kielty, who had never acted before, in this hugely challenging play was a very courageous decision by the producer Martin Lynch. In the original mid-90’s versions of the play, Dan Gordon had brilliantly made the part his own.
But somehow or other the casting of Patrick brought a whole other dimension, that at a stroke made the play relevant again for the audiences of post-Troubles Ireland. For us as documentary makers the exhilarating opportunity to witness this flowering ‘tour de force’ was one we simply couldn’t resist”.
Patrick Kielty And A Night In November is a DoubleBand Films production for BBC Northern Ireland.