Ulster American
Writer: David Ireland
Director: Shane Anthony
Seymour Centre
May 13-29, 2021
David Ireland’s award-winning satire Ulster American takes as its target the current Western concern with constructing inclusive and equal cultural identities. While we bandy about the progressive ideologies and slogans that underpin cultural and gender equality how much are our expectations of others still grounded in deeply ingrained assumptions that sustain our personal identity and uphold privilege?
The premise of Ulster American is simple. Three characters – an Oscar winning American actor, Jay Conway (Jeremy Waters), a successful British director, Leigh Carver (Brian Meegan), and an aspiring writer from Northern Ireland, Ruth Davenport (Harriet Gordon- Anderson) – are enclosed in one room to discuss the imminent rehearsal schedule of Ruth’s new play. It quickly emerges that Jay and Leigh have different interpretations of the play, and Ruth a different expectation. The outcome is a Gordian knot that, it seems, only a forceful slashing can resolve.
We meet the two men as they wait for Ruth to arrive. Leigh’s apartment is stylishly non-committal and he is pleasantly remote and formally accommodating of the overbearing, self-dramatising Jay. For Jay, conversation is a blunt weapon, and his opening line “Have you ever used the ‘n’ word?” is followed by an invitation to the politically correct Leigh to think of a situation in which rape could be justified. Outrageously, Ireland can make this untouchable subject comedic, nevertheless we don’t fail to notice that saying the “n” word is unthinkable but male violence towards women can be imagined even by PC men.
When Ruth arrives she’s in denial about the seriousness of a car accident hospitalising her mother and it’s clear she is very ambitious. She flatters Jay and eagerly responds to his self-important intimation that her script is Hollywood material and will catch the attention of Tarantino. The honeymoon is quickly over when Jay discovers that the hero of her play is a Protestant and not an Irish Catholic through whom he could re-affirm his own identity. There is further disunion when Ruth refuses to be defined as Irish, stoutly affirming she is British, and defends her Protestant hero. Leigh’s need to enhance his reputation by having a big American star under his direction supports the change to Irish-Catholic hero, belittling Ruth as “really Irish”.
Both men, although so dissimilar, are the same in their perception of Ruth’s protection of her identity and the integrity of her play, as mere intransigence and not her right as a creative equal. Jay rests his authority upon the Oscar he carries in his kit-bag – and it seems the possession of male genitalia – while Leigh derives his superiority from being a real Brit with a Henry Higgins complex. In effect, they violate Ruth, while at the same time treating her resistance as an assault upon their deeply entrenched privileges. Ruth, however, is not powerless.
The conclusion to Ulster American is controversial. Some view it as a cheap trick, others see it as an appropriately comedic punchline while others again see it as an appropriate punishment referring back to the opening dialogue. See the play and decide for yourself and you will be rewarded by a very stimulating evening of theatre.
Congratulations to the three actors who brilliantly capture the mixture of riotous comedy and stinging satire that have made the edgy Ulster American a significant witness to the confusion and rage of our times.
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theatre@ssh.com.au
