CityLife

I'm Frank Morgan returns to Lowry

FIRST PLAY: O'Byrne

I’M Frank Morgan, which returns this weekend at The Lowry Studio, was the first play written by Joe O’Byrne to be set in the fictional community of Paradise Heights.
 
It's a community which has also been seen in his hit play The Bench as well as his first feature film project Lookin’ For Lucky, which has just acquired a distribution deal. 

The play, which debuted in 2005 as part of the 24/7 Manchester Theatre Festival, is a monologue that was adapted into an award winning short film by Paul Murphy (a director who has worked on Casualty, Holby City, and Hollyoaks) in 2000, and again, Joe played the lead role.

“Although the play was written and is set in 1999, the current economic climate and the rise of loan-sharking activities in run down communities has made it timely and appropriate to revisit the play,” says Joe.

“The banks are there to service their shareholders, they aren’t interested in taking people on from communities like Paradise Heights.

“Up to 35 per cent of the population in deprived communities don’t have a bank account. That’s a terrifying statistic when you consider that a lot of those people will end up dealing with loan sharks like Frank Morgan.” 

The character, who’ll be played by Joe himself, had its origins, he remembers, “in a book I started in my first year at Salford University as a Media and Performance student."

Frank Morgan was a background character in it, the main character was a lad called Billy Howcroft who pops up in I’m Frank Morgan and in the feature film Lookin’ For Luckly. He’s also mentioned in The Bench.

"The Paradise Heights community,” he explains, “is a sort of hybrid Salford and Halliwell/Oldhams Estate in Bolton. I grew up on Oldhams Estate and I live in Halliwell now. I love Salford, Halliwell and Oldhams Estate and I hope that comes across in the stories I write.”

Directed by Ian Curley, Joe once again appears in the title role, as Frank. A hard man in a dirty old town, a loan shark and poker player, he’s taken on some of the toughest that ever drew breath.

They’ve all ended up broken, or buried. But as he takes us on a tour of his recent past we see the mask is slipping and that this is a man haunted by his own demons.

This will mark Joe’s return to acting after two years.

“After watching Ian’s fantastic portrayal of Frank in The Bench,” he offers, “I knew he was the only other person that really knew the character.”

 Joe’s next play, Rank, which is also set in Paradise Heights, will debut at The Lowry in June this year, directed by Joe, while another Paradise Heights play Torch is due to debut in Autumn of this year.

I’m Frank Morgan is at The Lowry on Saturday and Sunday, March 13/14. Call 0870 787 5780.