Bolton-based playwright, actor, and film-maker Joe O’Byrne is something of a local hero on the Manchester arts scene. His series of plays based on the fictional housing estate Paradise Heights (an amalgam of O’Byrne’s hometown Bolton and his beloved Salford & Manchester) has garnered much acclaim, and been favourably compared with Jimmy McGovern’s tv series ‘The Street’, as well as the gritty urban works of Ken Loach, Martin Scorcese, and Shane Meadows. Now, as a big graphic novel fan, O’Byrne has released his next Paradise Heights instalment in the form of this mini episode, featuring arguably his most popular character, the hard man anti-hero Frank Morgan. I’ve seen several of Joe’s stage plays, and been mightily impressed at how he can deliver a solid theatrical right hook with scenes of truly imaginative violence, yet often within the very same scene rip your heart open with breath-taking honesty of emotion. His characters are often broken, yet possessed of indomitable spirit. Frank Morgan encapsulates this perfectly; he’s Eastwood and Ray Winston rolled into one. He can break every finger you have, yet look you in the eyes and shatter your heart with a few softly spoken words. Frank knows all. His greatest flaw is he knows himself too well.
‘One Shot’ opens with a cracking poem that perfectly illustrates the world of Paradise Heights. No-one can be trusted (not even the identity of the narrator, in this instance), and anything can happen if you let your guard down for even a second. O’Byrne crafts his words well. There’s the hard-boiled style of Mickey Spillane and Frank Miller, yet each sentence is shot through with a raw emotion and fearless intensity. The words flow from the page like gravel-infused honey, and you never know what’s going to happen next. ‘One Shot’ gives us a glimpse into the mind, heart, and tattered soul of a man with absolutely nothing to lose. This is a nightmare world, but a wholly recognisable one (which makes it even more disturbing), but with shafts of celestial light illuminating microscopic spots of hope, and the faint possibility of redemption.
O’Byrne’s illustrations are simplistic, and perfectly evoke Frank Morgan’s sinful and gut-wrenching inner and outer space. There are lots of silhouetted figures in bare, claustrophobic spaces. Precious little light breaks through the gloom, but it is O’Byrne’s words that are his greatest strength. The pages could contain simple matchstick figures, and the raw, unfettered, animal cry of Frank Morgan’s words would paint a multi-million dollar epic in your mind’s eye.
This is dark stuff indeed. Perfectly Frank.
Brian Gorman is a writer, critic and graphic novelist. His latest play NEW DAWN FADES the story of Joy Division has been hailed as a cultural classic and is currently in negotiation for a national tour.
O’Byrne’s illustrations are simplistic, and perfectly evoke Frank Morgan’s sinful and gut-wrenching inner and outer space. There are lots of silhouetted figures in bare, claustrophobic spaces. Precious little light breaks through the gloom, but it is O’Byrne’s words that are his greatest strength. The pages could contain simple matchstick figures, and the raw, unfettered, animal cry of Frank Morgan’s words would paint a multi-million dollar epic in your mind’s eye.
This is dark stuff indeed. Perfectly Frank.
Brian Gorman is a writer, critic and graphic novelist. His latest play NEW DAWN FADES the story of Joy Division has been hailed as a cultural classic and is currently in negotiation for a national tour.
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