In his new play, 'Revenge', Michael Duke has created a central character who thinks of himself as 'a good person' but who is obsessed with the fantasy of revenge, writes Jane Coyle
The name Michael Duke has been circulating in and around the theatre world in the North for some time. It was he who directed a fine production of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme for Belfast's Lyric Theatre in February last year, notching up two Irish Times/ESB Irish Theatre Awards for Richard Dormer as best actor and Frankie McCafferty as best supporting actor. Shortly afterwards, his new play, Revenge, was presented as a rehearsed reading at the Linenhall Library by Tinderbox Theatre Company.
Since then, events have moved quickly for this affable writer-director, who, in September 2003, was appointed artistic director of Tinderbox. Now, exactly a year after its first public reading, a large-scale production of Revenge is due to open at the former Belfast Assembly Rooms, before going on a tour, which will end at Dublin's Project. A cast of 14 professional actors will be joined by three community choruses, drawn from Belfast, mid-Ulster and the north-west, who will each perform in their respective home patch.
Duke is originally from Banbridge in Co Down. He was associate director at the Dundee Repertory Theatre for six years. As opening night approaches, he feels that the coincidence of his appointment and the commissioning of Revenge needs a little explanation.
"It must look slightly dubious that, no sooner do I take over as artistic director of Tinderbox than the company stages one of my plays. If I were standing on the outside, I might be raising an eyebrow.
"But it's strange how things come together. I had been interested in Tinderbox for a long time, particularly in its work with new writing. I'd seen some of the shows they'd put on in the old Northern Bank (aka the former Belfast Assembly Rooms) and was very impressed with them.
"I actually applied for the post of artistic director in 2001, when Stephen Wright left. I think it was down to myself and Simon Magill, who was subsequently appointed. I had absolutely no problem with Simon getting the job. I thought he was right for it.
"But I continued to talk to the company and sent Tim Loane a draft of Revenge for him to read and give me some feed-back. He loved it and asked me if they could do it as a rehearsed reading, which I was very happy to agree to."
But Magill's stay at Tinderbox was to be brief. Within the year, the post was advertised again. This time, there was no discussion. Duke was the man. In the meantime, however, other members of the board had read Revenge and Duke was asked if the company could go ahead with a full production. Which is where he came in.
Since his arrival in September, 2003, he has been keeping his head down, working on a substantial fourth draft of the script, which has developed into something of an epic.
The complex production will be directed by Duke's long-time collaborator, Anna Newell. Their association goes back to their days at Dundee Rep, for whom she has also recently directed a large-scale comic opera. He warmly acknowledges her invaluable experience in dealing not only with the artistic but also the logistic demands of such a massive professional/community touring production.
Set on Halloween night, when the worlds of the living and the dead collide, Revenge is both a love story and an examination of suppressed anger, bitterness and vengeance. The central motif is a wedding. But what should be a joyous event is viewed by one family member with dark feelings of resentment. Duke has introduced a mystical element to the storyline, as he reveals the spiritual courage the characters must find in order to move on in their lives.
"The seeds of the story came to me in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement," he explains. "I was struck by the ferocity of the debate about the vote on the release of political prisoners. People were in a terrible dilemma - if they voted for the proposal, it could be interpreted as a betrayal of the dead. If they voted against it, it was as though they were betraying their children by not supporting an end to violence.
"I wanted to look at the flipside of the notion of reconciliation, to consider the feelings of people who couldn't find it in themselves to forgive those who had caused them such pain. I have created a central character who thinks of himself as 'a good person' and yet is obsessed with the fantasy of revenge. It isn't set on one side of town or the other. It is a universal situation, common to people from any cultural or social background."
Looking back on a life, which he describes as being ". . . totally devoid of a career plan", Duke says he has wanted to write since he was seven years old and talks warmly of his introduction to theatre by "a great teacher" at Banbridge Academy, who used to bring him up to Belfast to see plays. "In today's climate, there's no way you could do things like that," he reflects ruefully.
He cut his teeth during his years at Aberdeen University, where, of his own admission, he put far more time into writing, directing and producing plays with a group of like-minded people, than he did on his studies.
"I'm not an academic. Never was and never will be. When I started writing and directing at Aberdeen, I had no idea of how much I didn't know. But I was in with a great bunch of about a dozen people, who challenged each other's ideas and fed those ideas into the work we were making."
When he made a brief return home from London in the early 1980s, the Lyric was staging plays by writers such as Christina Reid and Martin Lynch and he recalls his pleasure at hearing plays being performed in his own voice. He returned to London with new resolve.
"I had been writing part time and doing social work in between. I decided that I would give directing and writing a go full time for a year. Every year since, I celebrate that I am still in there doing it."
That "doing it" has encompassed writing for stage and radio, directing, collaborating on dance theatre and working as a dramaturg. His tenure at Dundee Rep lasted from 1992 to 1998, at which point, Duke suffered a rush of blood to the head, threw in his settled routine and his post code and took to the road with his back pack.
For the next five years, he worked on a huge range of projects in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Prague, Denmark and Suriname (formerly Dutch Guyana). He looks back on those fertile, ever-changing years with great satisfaction and affection.
On his return, Paula McFetridge, artistic director of the Lyric, asked him if he was interested in taking charge of a new production of Observe the Sons of Ulster, which he had first directed in Dundee in 1998 and in which Richard Dormer had been cast. The two agreed, if they felt they could find something fresh in it.
With volunteered rewrites from Frank McGuinness and a carefully chosen ensemble of actors, Duke crafted a production, which will live long in the memories of those who saw it. In the process, his name became engraved upon the consciousness of Northern theatre goers.
There is now, in his mellow demeanour, a palpable sense of homecoming. With close family in Down and Dublin, he describes both places as "home" and is plainly delighted to be here.
"With a bit more self belief, I think there is a great scene in Belfast," he says. "I've spent the past six months, inching my way in, chatting to people. Gradually I'm feeling less like the new boy. I do think there is massive potential for Belfast to establish itself as a genuine European city of theatre. I'm just very pleased to be here and part of it."
Revenge runs at the Belfast Assembly Rooms until April 3rd, then tours to The Playhouse, Derry (April 6th-10th); Warrenpoint Town Hall (April 19th); An Grianán, Letterkenny (April 20th-21st); Market Place Theatre, Armagh (April 22nd-23rd); St Patrick's Hall, Strabane (April 27th); Craic Theatre, Coalisland (April 29th), Great Hall, Downpatrick(May 1st); Project, Dublin ( May 3rd-8th)