In Seán O’Casey’s masterpiece, ‘Captain’ Jack Boyle (Mark Rylance) – the titular paycock – proclaims “the whole world is in a terrible state of chassis” as he feints an upper-class demeanour. The world is in a terrible state of crisis but so too are the accents in Matthew Warchus’s intensely comic revival of the 1924 play in which the Boyle family discover their fortunes are set to change as the Irish Civil War sets countryman against countryman outside their Dublin flat.
I mention the accents up front as it’s difficult to talk about anything else before doing so. As Juno, Succession star J Smith-Cameron goes for Hollywood’s standard diddley-eye-dee accent but still sounds American, Rylance attempts authenticity but arrives there via the English midlands, and when Paul Hilton’s down-and-out Joxer occasionally approaches an Irish accent, he does so in cartoonish Oirish high notes. It’s a real shame because the three leads are set against an entirely Irish supporting cast – their indiscretions are all the more obvious. Yes, there’s a chance I’m biased – to a non-Irish ear they may sound fine, or receive a more forgiving reception, at least.
Maybe it’s appropriate as Warchus has set the dial closer to farce than tragedy in his production as he offers unapologetically entertaining theatre. It suits the Charlie Chaplin-esque Rylance as his fourth-wall-breaking Captain works every muscle in his face as he appeals directly to the audience without uttering a word, his eyebrows darting up and down independently of each other, though the double-takes towards the audience start to wear by Act Two. Less naturally inclined towards comedy, and with less material to mine, Smith-Cameron seems slightly adrift in proceedings.
Even with the pivot towards the play’s inherent humour, the underlying tragedy in O’Casey’s writing remains. You get a real sense of the people of Dublin and their lives during the Civil War, notably the contradiction of Juno and Jack’s physical proximity to events and their emotional distance from them, highlighted by their decision to continue with their celebratory party despite the funeral of a neighbour’s son, killed in the war, taking place at the same time.
Despite this, in ramping up the comedy, the tonal shift in the play’s final third jars (as does the revised ending) as the characters find their lives blown apart and Rob Howell’s set with them. With his life utterly changed, Rylance’s Captain appears with Joxer in an undefined no man’s land like Lear and his Fool on the heath with an equal lack of sense and just as tragic.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Juno and the Paycock is at the Gielgud Theatre, London, until 23 November
