Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, 30 April 2009, and touring

Scott Kyle and Colin Little in Singin' I'm No A Billy He's A Tim

WHAT COULD be worse for a Celtic fan than being locked up in a police cell on the day of an Old Firm match? For Tim, in Des Dillon’s raucous comedy, there is one thing worse. Not only is he behind bars with the big game approaching and no chance of his wife finding the money to pay his fine, but also he has been banged up in the same cell as Billy, a fervent Rangers supporter.

This being Glasgow, the men’s collision is not just a matter of friendly rivalry, but a very serious clash of Catholic and Protestant cultures with all the bigotry that that entails. What they must figure out is whether their shared interest – the desire to watch the game on the warder’s TV through a narrow window in the cell door – outweighs their mutual antipathy.

No prizes for guessing they sort things out and come to realise their prejudices are exactly that – ill-informed assumptions that take no account of human complexity. It’s hard to imagine a play on the subject of sectarianism making any other point, but there are two reasons Dillon succeeds without seeming too obvious.

The first is he doesn’t trivialise or caricature either man’s beliefs. The production – by NLP Theatre – is attracting big audiences more familiar with the terraces than the stalls and they are well served by the show’s recognition of the ribald chants, jokes and taunts of the football world. Even as Dillon condemns the politics of hate, he seems to celebrate the brute masculine energy of the fans. Friendly rivalry is one thing, he seems to say, songs about being up to the knees in the enemy’s blood quite another.

Coupled with this sympathy and understanding of a conflict that is long-standing and heartfelt, however misguided, Dillon has a sharp awareness of what makes an audience laugh. His gags are not sophisticated – often nothing more than an expletive – but they are consistent and plentiful and, delivered by Scott Kyle as Billy (all antsy muscularity) and Colin Little as Tim (more laid back but holding his own) they are played for all they are worth.

The result is a breezy piece of popular theatre that makes its point without hectoring.

Singin’ I’m No A Billy He’s A Tim is at the OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, on 27 May 2009

© Mark Fisher, 2009

Links

• NLP Theatre