THEATRE REVIEW: McGonagall’s Chronicles

(Which Will Be Remembered For A Very Long Time)

There’s no danger I’ll forget Gary McNair’s McGonagall’s Chronicles. It’s an affectionate, if also mocking, tribute to the so-called world’s worst poet William Topaz McGonagall, a working class man of Irish descent who tried to make it as a poet in 19th century Scotland. The play is written entirely in the kind of verse which damned McGonagall to ridicule in his time, but McNair’s own verse is clever, engaging and hilarious.

McNair was inspired to write the play after discovering some of William’s poetry through a friend and finding it comically bad. But then, in researching the poet’s life, McNair discovered the tragedy at the heart of it, and found himself sympathising with someone who wanted to be an artist, to make his mark on the world stage, and wouldn’t give up on that dream.

The play takes us from McGonagall’s life as a weaver in Dundee to, in middle age, his deciding to become a writer. From that point he dedicates his life to his art, and proceeds with absolute faith in his creative abilities. The world, however, mocks and scorns him, and whatever opportunities McGonagall occasionally receives, he manages to squander. Instead he keeps doing things his own way, and getting nowhere. He is driven forward by unrelenting hope, in spite of contempt from society. It’s a sad tale of unfulfilled dreams, and of a man without a place in the world – not able to fit into either middle-class or working-class society at the time.

It is directed by Joe Douglas and stars McNair who is dynamic and pleasing in the lead role. He is flanked by two musicians – Brian James O’Sullivan and Simon Liddell – who also play small roles during the play such as the judge who takes away William’s livelihood and palace guards who send him packing after he tries to visit the Queen at Balmoral.

McGonagall wanted to be remembered, and that is what Gary McNair does in this unique play. It’s a comic masterpiece in rhyme.

‘What is genius?

Tis a thing seldom rewarded;’

Gary McNair, McGonagall’s Chronicles