Big Man at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast on the 28th October, 2022

 Big Man at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast on the 28th October, 2022



A one hander like Big Man, or, in proper English, a dramatic monologue, is extremely difficult to sustain for 70 minutes or so.  Usually, the audience become increasingly agitated at the thirty-minute mark and/or drifts away.  So, it is to actor Tony Flynn's credit that he manages to engage with a personal account of a failed relationship.

The anti-naturalistic stage and absence of props was vaguely reminiscent of German expressionism.  A white stage riven with black cracks and a gaping white hole was alternately transformed into a black stage with white lines by James McFetridge's lighting design.  Lighting was used throughout the play to offer the actor a spotlight when he provided a more intimate digression, part of his unfolding story.  Flynn's anecdote about a gay relationship with a younger man in the Ardoyne rarely commented on sectarianism at all but shone a light into gay lifestyles or culture in repressed Belfast. 

The play begins with a shining disco ball and Kate Bush's lyrics.  Rather predictable songs like Soft Cell's Tainted Love and Dusty Springfield's Look of Love counterpoint the unfolding narrative.  Elements of sound design were subtly and skilfully orchestrated. 

The lover is a younger man, a millennial born in the first decade of the 21st century, still living with his father.  As well as religion, there is no mention of literature in the play.  Instead, pop culture and pop music are foregrounded. 

Humiliation and self-respect are the play's themes as Flynn speaks of promiscuity and loveless sex, insubstantial, transitory relationships, the terrain of gay lifestyles.  Symbolical of this is the dating app, where getting likes in the virtual world is more important than actual relationships. 

Big Man deals with the subject of toxic masculinity in Belfast and attempts to discover authenticity and actuality amongst the the glitter ball of jaded pop culture.  It is a look back in anger to a period both in the recent past and in our contemporary period too.  Big Man is definitely worth a visit.

Paul Murphy, Belfast, October 2022


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