Faith Healer is a classic Oirish wrist-slasher about three sponging half-wits caught in a downward spiral of penury, booze, squalor, sexual repression, bad healthcare, murderous violence and non-stop drizzle. The mood of grinding despair never lets up for a second as the healer, Frank Hardy, along with his moaning wife and their Cockney sidekick, motors around the British Isles trying to cadge pennies from cripples in exchange for bogus cures. Every cliché in the rich thesaurus of Celtic misery is brought together in this rancid melodrama about mob justice.

Every cliché in the rich thesaurus of Celtic misery is brought together in this rancid melodrama

Brian Friel’s play premiered in 1979 on Broadway, but the action is set in the early 1950s and the culture it describes belongs to medieval times or even the Dark Ages. From a lofty height, Hardy pours scorn on superstitious and ignorant Celtic bumpkins, all oppressed by incurable diseases, and all eager to find salvation in the blessings of a fake miracle-worker. The play doesn’t limit itself to Ireland but visits the beautiful valleys of west Wales and north-east Scotland as well. Some of the Welsh locations are prosperous seaside towns bustling with shops and restaurants, but Friel’s script doesn’t want to let a cheery fact get in the way of a depressing speech. Wherever Frank wanders, he finds oafish savages sinking in stupidity and self-neglect. Poor guy. He must have been a nightmare to go on holiday with.

The production, directed by Rachel O’Riordan, is masterfully realised. The stage, adorned with a few wooden chairs and Frank’s tatty banner, is an austere confection of burned gold, black and grey. Lovely to look at. Declan Conlon (Frank) bewitches us with his blarney and his apparent candour as he describes the broken and resentful invalids he tries to cure.

QOSHE - If you hate the Irish, you’ll adore this play - Lloyd Evans
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If you hate the Irish, you’ll adore this play

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28.03.2024

Faith Healer is a classic Oirish wrist-slasher about three sponging half-wits caught in a downward spiral of penury, booze, squalor, sexual repression, bad healthcare, murderous violence and non-stop drizzle. The mood of grinding despair never lets up for a second as the healer, Frank Hardy, along with his moaning wife and their Cockney sidekick, motors around the British Isles trying to cadge pennies from cripples in exchange for bogus cures. Every cliché........

© The Spectator


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