I’ve no idea why I didn’t go and see this production with Bobbie Scully at some point during its nearly two-year on-off run. I have a funny feeling we had planned to go and then events intervened. Perhaps she saw it at that point while I was left in a state of shaughraun with regard to this play/production, until some client friends came along with a yearning to see some theatre.
I’m not sure whose idea it was to go and see this in early 1990. Perhaps someone asked me to suggest a production for an outing…or perhaps I tagged along with something they had already planned. I’m pretty sure that Stephen Lee, Rosemarie Whiteley and Suan Yap were part of that group, but my log is silent on the detail of who made up that “crowd”. I’d guess there must have been at least five or six of us to constitute a “crowd” in my log.
Anyway, I/we voted the production good. Fabulous cast, with Stephen Rea dominating the proceedings in the eponymous role. Lots for the superb supporting cast to do. Howard Davies directed it very well.
Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.
Below is Michael Billington’s review from May 1988 when this production started:
Billington on The Shaughraun Fri, May 13, 1988 – 31 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
Michael Ratcliffe in The Observer also liked the production a lot. It didn’t get extended twice for no reason…
Ratcliffe on the Shaughraun Sun, May 15, 1988 – 39 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com