It is ironic, and yet inadvertently fitting, that Brian Foster’s award-winning tale of the street drinker Myra McLaughlin – performed with great conviction and versatility by Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley – unfolds on and before a simple wooden bench under a glittering chandelier of the Assembly Rooms’ ornate ballroom for it encapsulates the widening gulf between the haves and the have-nots as well as the predicament she and rising numbers of other unfortunate souls find themselves: in the gutter looking up at the fading stars of their dreams.

No one sets out to become homeless and/or an alcoholic. It is a unique set of circumstances, which drive people into such a predicament. In Myra’s case, one misfortune after another including a neglectful father “missing presumed drunk”, a childhood in and out of homes “like pass the parcel”, multiple bereavements and a rocky relationship with the poet-turned-prick Tommy who wooed her with a promise of “six babies, two greyhounds and a deep fat fryer”.

Given the harrowing subject matter, you would be forgiven for thinking that the play, which won Best Tragedy at the world’s largest solo theatre festival in New York, is sponsored by Gillette. And though Foster does not shy away from Myra’s losing battle with the demon drink aka “The Beast”, through his wonderful turns of phrase and Hewitt-Twamley’s powerful performance the two 45-minute acts (run back-to-back) are as comical as they are moving.

Interspersed with several direct appeals to the audience for cash – “You’ve got a lovely smile,” Myra says to one passerby, “but it’s your fucking money I’m after” – and laced with everyday encounters with a range of colourful characters, including the chain-smoking Big Bridie and her gravity-defying husband Jimmy The Tadpole, the dirty washing of Myra’s life is hung out to dry in chronological order from cradle to the inevitable.

“I am an alcoholic,” she chides us towards the end of her tale, “not a leper.” A howl to humanity reminiscent of John Merrick which reminds us that each and every street drinker is a human being deserving of sympathy not scorn. And as Jack Frost ices her cracked lips, we are left with the sobering thought: there but for the grace of God go I.

Peter Callaghan
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2 Comments

  1. MYRAS STORY IS EXCELLENT, FIONA HEWITT -TWAMLEY IS BRILLIANT, BEST ENTERTAINMENT IVE HAD IN YEARS,SHE BROUGHT EVERY CHARACTER TO LIFE,

  2. Myras Story was both heartbreaking and hilarious. Very thought provoking .Performed by Fionna so wonderfully she morphed into each character!Best show I have seen at this year’s Fringe

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