The Confirmation Suit, Bewley's Cafe Theatre

Like many before, it would have been during school, coming up to the Leaving Certificate, that I came across Brendan Behan's short story for the first time. I did read a Behan book before that, after my English Teacher recommended one (a book of many that was on a suggested summer reading list, and this teacher organised a trip to see The Borstal Boy in The Gaiety Theatre). Behan is a character that we are all familiar with in some way; he could even have been in one of his own stories, and in this instance, he is.

A year ago, Peter and Jim Sheridan wrote a play about Behan's life: Meet The Quare Fellow which was a way, I feel, of introducing Behan and his work, back to us. Sheridan also started one of his own shows with a 'Behan in New York' story, so there is a fondness for the man and his writing, something that is evident, but with Sheridan, the play is the thing, and the story and true character are central. This adaptation is a natural follow up to that play.

Based on Behan's own experience - although in this adaptation he does warn us about how he can be prone to exaggeration - the story, written a couple of years before his own passing, follows a young Behan preparing for the big confirmation day by learning the questions and answers from the catechism. A perk of the day is being able to collect money from family, friends and even strangers (the only other day you can do that is on your first communion day). Socially, back in Behan's youth, this was a very big day, added to that the power and reverence that was given to the Catholic Church at the time. Having everything right was important, and going in pants and a jersey was not on. 

The hitch in the tale is that the Behan's get their neighbour, living above them, to make Brendan's confirmation suit. Her usual clients tend to have passed on, as she makes the burial clothes for them, something that disturbs Brendan a little. But nothing as horrific as when he hears of the design plans for the suit. The possibility that his big day might be ruined looms on the horizon.

The Dublinese is all there, as an older Behan, in a room resembling an old tenement type flat - the large sash windows and big armchair - tells the tale. But the set could be a black box, as the story, language and strong performance from Gary Cooke, who played Behan in the Sheridan's Meet The Quare Fella, are more than enough to bring us into a Dublin past. Cooke looks the part, and plays it brilliantly, becoming Brendan Behan. In one scene about the cooking of a sheep's head, through the writing and Cooke's performance, we can actually see the head. Well, not actually, but that is theatre. 

A real shining moment is during the confirmation suit story itself, Cooke brings out the younger Behan more than before. While it is the older Brendan we hear, the actions, looks and responses are that of a boy, from running up and down stairs, to that wonderful look when he sees the suit come into being. A wonderful visual that will remain in my mind.

You cannot go wrong for an hour's theatre, lunchtime or any time, in what is a loving, and wonderful, adaptation of a story we all know, and maybe some of us have even been through. A wonderful piece of theatre.