The Flags
Royal Exchange Theatre
Tuesday 23rd October- Saturday 10th November
8/10
IT IS a hard task to successfully pull off black comedy; however, when achieved there is nothing quite like it. Bridget O’Connor’s The Flags is a touching, dark and comic play about two lifeguards patrolling one of Ireland’s most unpopular and dirty beaches. Unlike the stereotyped idea of fabulous looking lifeguards and exotic beaches, The Flags portrays a morphed reverse with unbeautiful people in an unbeautiful place.
The story revolves around a day on the beach where the two lifeguards JJ (Francis Magee), an ex-heart throb and young Howie (Eamonn Owens) have to impress Brendan (Kieran Cunningham) their inspector, in the hope of a promotion to a more pleasant holidaying spot. The two fantasize about how wonderful life would be with gangs of admirers and a higher salary. JJ, the older of the two, embellishes stories of his surfing days in Californian and tells Howie about the dream bachelor pad they could soon be living in. However, as with any marvelous plan there is always an unfortunate twist or two along the way.
The first hurdle comes in the form of a slightly strange girl (Siobhan McSweeney) who is determined to commit suicide. Unfortunately, due to the fact that JJ and Howie are desperate to impress, they save the girl twice, due to accidentally burying her alive the first time, appearing like heroes in front of Brendan. It was a fabulous turn of events and extremely amusing to see the slightly disheveled girl walking onto the stage asking if she was now in heaven, only to discover the two idiots had saved her again. Further drama also came about when it was revealed JJ had only put himself forward for the promotion, betraying naive Howie’s misplaced trust.
All four actors were impressive and successful in their efforts to captivate and amuse. Bridget O’Connor’s excellent play was cynically lovely and a real pleasure to watch as human nature was undermined and the strange was made to appear normal.
Izzy Janner
Arts Editor
Also, watching this from an ex-lifeguard point of view, the script expertly captured the nuances of working in this situation. I could see some of my ex-colleagues within the cast..