LOFT Venue’s Bottom Dog theatre company hatched a nationwide hit when it backed Myles Breen’s one-man show, Language Unbecoming a Lady. Currently on tour (“standing ovation last night in Wexford, we were a week in the Civic in Dublin and have been to Letterkenny and Dundalk”), Language returns to the Loft’s salons for five nights, Monday November 29 to December 3, 8pm.
Breen, a gifted choreographer and comedian, wrote the play for Limerick’s Gay Pride Festival 2009 and it’s success has been universal.
Liam O’Brien directs this unique piece of work as it embarks on a third staging in Limerick within 18 months. Arts page quizzed Breen – is there still an audience for five nights in peak theatre season? Yes, it is back by demand.
“Language Unbecoming a Lady is a play about life growing up gay in ‘70s and ‘80s Limerick. It appeals to straight people and to gay because of the story line – they get that connection. Robert is 50, he is losing his parents and I’m 46, I’m of that generation where we are dealing with our parents mortality. He has had his heart broken and has to deal with that, helped by Diana his alter ego. The loneliness is there but so is the strength and care that takes him through his ups and downs”.
It’s a funny play. There is an ineffable sweetness to Robert, his revelations are rueful and heartfelt and the ring of truth is there to anchor us in the emotions and locality.
But Breen is clear about this: Language Unbecoming is not autobiographical and is challenging. “For me, as writer and the only actor, there is nowhere to hide if people don’t like the acting or don’t like the writing”.
This South Circular Road man is not Robert the bank worker, nor Diana, nor did Breen surrender the play to the drama of AIDS.
“AIDS had a huge effect on my generation and how gay people my age felt about themselves and sexuality. There are enough productions out there that tell that but that is not happening here. I feel there is hope for Robert. He has his alter ego Diana who keeps him strong, he has family and friends and he picks himself up in a very, very dark time”.
“People will come along and listen to Robert, and to the wit and wisdom of the Divine Diana,” predicts the optimistic playwright. Of course, he’s right.
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