Laughter is the best medicine, they say. And in a week when Celtic fans have had to take their medicine and much, much more, it was great to hear hundreds of fellow Tims enjoying a good few belly laughs at Glasgow’s famed Pavilion Theatre on the opening night of this run of Jim Orr’s excellent play, ‘And If You The History?’ And that was long before news of Rangers’ exit from European competition came through!
Jim is no stranger to the Celtic support after his previous stage successes with the comedies ‘Bend It Like Brattbakk’ and ‘Bend It Like Bertie’. He first came to fans’ attention back in the 1990s as one of the people behind ‘Save Our Celts’, the initial supporter campaign that emerged to challenge the Celtic Board and the Kelly & White dynasties that had dominated Celtic for decades. It is the fitting that Jim has turned his attentions to that critical period in the club’s history with this play, an alternative history (and then some!) of how Celtic ended up in the doldrums and, finally, were rescued thanks to the efforts of many but with credit going primarily to Fergus John McCann, a Croy bhoy made good.
We’ve gone from ‘Sack the Board’ to treading the boards and once again Jim has paired up with the tremendous Des McLean to lead the small cast of four on this journey back into Celtic Da’ flashback territory. Everyone appears at some point in this staged Celtic time capsule: Brother Walfrid, Tommy Burns, Jim White, Brian Dempsey, David Murray, Terry Cassidy, Hugh Keevins, Maurice Johnston, Jack McGinn, Billy McNeill, Chris Eubank, Gerry McNee, Pee-ness, Tony Cascarino and . . . Tam McCann.
Tam who?
The real humour in this, as in so many of Jim’s plays, lies in the flights of fantasy he takes along with their musical interludes. There aren’t many stage productions out there featuring a female God with a Glasgow accent and fondness for swearing, purgatory, guardian angels, a time-travelling ex-Marist Brother and Scottish-Canadian businessmen with a penchant for bunnets. Throw in three generations of the Devlin family, all keen Celtic fans, and you have a recipe for laughter that probably shouldn’t work but works brilliantly.
The trademark Orr features are all there: tremendously earthy Glasgow humour, fast-paced dialogue, memorable characters and an ever-changing backdrop of photos, tunes and videos bringing many of those at the forefront of that tumultuous era right into the theatre. The reaction to the appearance of Michael Kelly’s talking head was entertainment itself – even Maurice Johnston got off more lightly!
And this was a Glasgow audience not afraid get involved. When the actors took to song not only did the audience join in, on a few occasions they kept going and those on stage had to wait their turn to get back on script. As has been seen before, these off-the-cuff situations are manna from heaven for Des McLean. He brought the house down at one point with an unscripted remark about the table on the centre of stage that kept collapsing at one side, much to the cast’s discomfort and the audience’s delight. Anyone turning up for their seat late or forgetting to turn their phone off were subjected to Des’ razor wit and he takes obvious confidence from his experience as a stand-up to depart from the script when the mood takes him, as with his comment about how the night had turned sour for Rangers (‘at least they’ll drop into the Eurovision Song Contest now.’)
Sitting amidst the faded glamour of the Pavilion, the night felt like a proper throwback to the old music hall days at times with the tremendous repartee and audience interaction on show. The laughs just kept coming as Celtic’s darkest days were overtaken by a new dawn, the overthrow of the old dynasties and, finally, the stopping of the 10. The appearance of an image of Henrik Larsson drew an incredible response all around the theatre, as did that of Martin O’Neill. It was clear that many of those present had survived the traumatic 90s and were prepared to see the funny side of much it now.
The play proved a much-needed tonic on a week where, as we’ve seen many times before, a Celtic team somehow contrived to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Once again Jim Orr has woven a comic tale with Celtic at its heart that helps renew your faith in our great club. The four-person cast were superb but special mention must go to Alyson Orr who rarely had minute either off-stage or off-mike yet put in a tremendous performance (and had to deal with that fecking table too!). Look out also for a sensational cameo at the end.
Remember, if anyone can McCann can – Tam or Fergus.
The Shamrock rating: 8/10
Showings:
Watch the ACSOM interview with creator Jim Orr and star Des McLean here:
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