3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
First review: Rex Ryan convincing as Gerry Hutch in play about gangster's life
Ryan, eldest son of the late broadcaster Gerry Ryan, had previously revealed how Hutch co-operated in his research for the play.
REX Ryan walks onto a dimly lit stage in Dublin's Glass Mask Theatre in a long grey wig and beard, replicating the stark image of Gerry Hutch's famous appearance at the Special Criminal Court.
He stands motionless listening to a plethora of news reports about The Monk being charged with murder for the notorious Regency Hotel bloodbath, in which Kinahan gangster David Byrne was gunned down but main target Daniel Kinahan managed to flee unharmed.
Several TV screens border both sides of the small theatre which holds a sold-out audience of around 50, showing actors playing news reporters telling how Hutch is also suspected of orchestrating two of the biggest cash robberies in the history of the state – the Marino Mart and Brink Allied heists.
Rex Ryan as Gerry Hutch
News in 90 Seconds - June 11th
Hutch's other main nemesis – which Ryan focuses on through much of the play – is RTÉ crime correspondent Paul Reynolds, who previously interviewed The Monk on Primetime in 2008 and covered his trial two years ago.
'I don't want to hear anymore!' rages Ryan as Hutch.
'Turn that thing down!'
Several times in the play Reynolds is referred to as a 'dying wasp', which Hutch dismissively retorted to the TV reporter when cornered by him at the RDS count centre last year when he arrived to hear how he narrowly missed out being elected to the Dáil in the General Election.
Ryan, eldest son of the late broadcaster Gerry Ryan, had previously revealed how Hutch co-operated in his research for the play.
The pair initially talked over Zoom while Hutch was in prison, and later met several times when Hutch was released. Ryan maintains the two are no longer in contact, and Hutch did no show up to the opening night last night.
Gerry Hutch: AKA The Monk
As the barrage of news reports dies down and Ryan takes off his wig and fake beard to display his natural black short hair, looking somewhat similar to a younger Hutch.
He puts on a coarse Dublin accent as he apes Hutch ranting about people 'pushing me down'.
'You're in the mind of The Monk now ladies and gentlemen, get your pop corn ready,' he advises, to giggles from some audience members.
He speculates about whether how the verdict will pan out, whether he 'gets justice today and go home to me family' or else 'rot in jail for life.'
He adds 'I've had lots of time to think in here'.
Then another underlying theme of the play is highlighted, when while stressing he's not really religious 'I do think there's a guardian angel watching over me'.
He reminisces about his childhood in his monologue, in which he built up a string of convictions and ended up in St Patrick's Institution and Mountjoy Prison.
'I was a normal kid, I jumped out of bed every morning like the Duracell bunny I did, huge energy,' he explains. 'I played football in the Cage,'
He talks about having his mates in Summerhill, but poverty made his and his 'Bugsy Malone' gang turn to a life of crime, being an 'ordinary decent criminal' targeting the likes of butchers and not doing the likes of hand bag snatching or poor boxes.
'Yeah I did some crimes, some of I got caught, some of them I got away with,' he declares.
His ma is revered, while his da is a hard worker in the docks.
'I was a natural born leader,' he boasts, as he also speaks about his love for his wife and his five children.
Then a news report blasts out 'an assassination attempt on The Monk', in reference to a failed hit on him in Lanzarote by the Kinahan gang.
'No, no, we're not going there,' he storms. 'The Monk, The Monk…I never got me family involved!'
News clips of the robberies are played on the TV screens, with Ryan also appearing on monitors and another actor playing Reynolds in their Primetime interview, in which Hutch maintained his innocence of those crimes.
'Yeah right,' loudly chuckled one audience member.
An old clip of Veronica Guerin on the Late Late Show is shown, with Ryan's character explaining how the slain crime journalist once confronted him at his home in Clontarf.
Monk poster
He also tells of the assassination attempt in Lanzarote, describing his the gun man walked by him and didn't see him in the bar.
Again he believes his 'guardian angel' helped him escaped being killed.
At the end of the hour long play Ryan again dons his grey wig and beard, as the verdict of 'not guilty' is announced.
With that a teenage girl dressed in black comes through the audience and joins a stunned Hutch, with the audience left to determine for themselves who exactly she is – perhaps his protective 'guardian angel'.
'A lot of whitewashing' remarked one audience member at the play's conclusion.
While there may be accusations that the portrayal of The Monk is somewhat glamorising a notorious criminal, Ryan's portrayal is convincing and the production is well put together and certainly not boring.
