CityLife

The Bench

FIRST seen at Studio Salford, Joe O’Byrne’s enthralling comedy of love, life and loss is part of a series set in the fictional community of Paradise Heights.

This is a place, says O’Byrne, where “the devil’s had his way…a drug-fuelled landscape painted on a canvas of deprivation.”

So far, so familiar, you might say. But “look further and you will find more”, he adds.

“It’s a place where angels walk among the gangsters, sharks, prostitutes and pimps – a place where the homeless man is a poet and a king.”

The Bench plays very much on this dichotomy and dynamic as, over a period of twelve months, the lives of an eclectic group of Paradise Heights residents interact, often surprisingly, around a bench in the local park.

It’s a place where you might see sex games played out, where the local loan shark observes “his” community, where a homeless poet courts an artist, where a couple of pensioners affectionately bait each other as they relive their past, and where a ghost in love with an angel can’t decide whether to intervene when things go wrong amongst the humans he observes.

Skilfully played by Manchester fringe stalwarts and newcomers including Clyve Bonelle, Ian Curley, Stella Grundy, Ste Myot,  Ben Hood and Phoebe Marie Jones (pictured together), this is gripping and entertaining stuff from the outset. The Library is to be congratulated for giving us all another chance to enjoy this highly recommended play.

The Bench runs until Thursday, January 29.

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