The Stage

Paradise

Published Friday 2 July 2004 at 17:15 by Tim Kerr

Paradise is a skilfully crafted play which tracks the record of local football team Belfast Celtic through its jubilant but turbulent years of the late forties. Using a well constructed mechanism of flashback, it follows the factually-based account of the team’s unique status and the consequences of its resignation from the Irish League following the injury to one of its players after a match with arch rivals Linfield.

The play, much helped by the clever use of its tiered set, intelligent lighting design and atmospheric sounds, takes us into the lives of the club’s personalities while offering a cogent insight into its historical and social context - therein lies the play’s subtlety and beauty. The footballing backdrop works as an apposite allegory for the tensions and emotions of a community melting pot.

This is a play about relationships. The maelstrom of players, manager, press and police, delineates the destabilising effect of the removal of an integral part of a community’s fabric, while depicting a ubiquitous picture of social and personal upheaval. This is achieved through its blend of humour and poignancy, its strong cast and its effective scene changes.

Paradise is a moving and funny play with several layers. It has, of course, a special relevance to Belfast and its vernacular as its action moves from the dressing room to the terraces but essentially it is a totally transferable piece as it commentates on the broader picture of the bricks and mortar making up our communities.