'Why would someone book a taxi to a house that's no longer there?'
Poster Design by DARREN McGINN
A local gang war…an innocent gunned down…a community divided…
Business for Lucky Cabs has never been quieter. Lisa MacGeehan, the boss of the small Paradise Heights taxi firm, is learning the hefty cost of her decision to ‘turn grass’ as her business is boycotted by the community under the orders of a local gangster. As intimidation from the local street gangs escalates and events begin to spiral out of control, Lisa realises integrity has a price, and it could cost much more than her business.
Halloween, a mystery caller wants a cab to a house on Athlone Avenue...a house with a history...a house that is no longer there. With the local police trying to quell a full scale riot, and Death quite literally stalking the streets, the rank is cut off and in the dead of night a ghost from the past is watching and waiting.
Written & Directed by Joe O'Byrne
Produced by Ian Curley and Joe O'Byrne
Business for Lucky Cabs has never been quieter. Lisa MacGeehan, the boss of the small Paradise Heights taxi firm, is learning the hefty cost of her decision to ‘turn grass’ as her business is boycotted by the community under the orders of a local gangster. As intimidation from the local street gangs escalates and events begin to spiral out of control, Lisa realises integrity has a price, and it could cost much more than her business.
Halloween, a mystery caller wants a cab to a house on Athlone Avenue...a house with a history...a house that is no longer there. With the local police trying to quell a full scale riot, and Death quite literally stalking the streets, the rank is cut off and in the dead of night a ghost from the past is watching and waiting.
Written & Directed by Joe O'Byrne
Produced by Ian Curley and Joe O'Byrne
Reviews
Jeni Howarth Williams as Lisa in RANK
This is hardcore drama of the first degree...
Stephen Kingston, Salford Star
It was a beautiful piece of work. Gripping, moving, woundingly well acted, particularly by remarkable lead actress, Jeni Howarth Wlliams, man she was brilliant. The whole cast were...it deserves to run and run. And run. Jim Cartwright has got some serious competition in the local playwright states.
Steve Balshaw, Salford Film Festival
The strength of this production as with most of O’Byrne's pieces lies in the writing, as he has a style that juxtaposes sharp dry humour with searching and seering dialogue. Rank is a success but don’t go to see the show if you are looking for an easy ride as this most certainly isn’t one.
John Roberts, whatsonstage.com
Rank, O'Byrne's latest creation - and possibly his best...maintains an almost unbearably tense atmosphere as events build towards a climax. It's all grounded by O'Byrne's language however, his ear for authentic voices rooting all his work in realism and an authentic world we all recognise. His characters are tough yet romantic, grounded and believable. With names and faces reoccurring throughout the different stories of Paradise Heights, you get a real sense of depth and thought - you could take any of the fringe characters and develop them into the focus of another story...Rank will surely be seen again on other stages around Manchester, and it deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
Aaron Lavery, Manchester Metro
Stephen Kingston, Salford Star
It was a beautiful piece of work. Gripping, moving, woundingly well acted, particularly by remarkable lead actress, Jeni Howarth Wlliams, man she was brilliant. The whole cast were...it deserves to run and run. And run. Jim Cartwright has got some serious competition in the local playwright states.
Steve Balshaw, Salford Film Festival
The strength of this production as with most of O’Byrne's pieces lies in the writing, as he has a style that juxtaposes sharp dry humour with searching and seering dialogue. Rank is a success but don’t go to see the show if you are looking for an easy ride as this most certainly isn’t one.
John Roberts, whatsonstage.com
Rank, O'Byrne's latest creation - and possibly his best...maintains an almost unbearably tense atmosphere as events build towards a climax. It's all grounded by O'Byrne's language however, his ear for authentic voices rooting all his work in realism and an authentic world we all recognise. His characters are tough yet romantic, grounded and believable. With names and faces reoccurring throughout the different stories of Paradise Heights, you get a real sense of depth and thought - you could take any of the fringe characters and develop them into the focus of another story...Rank will surely be seen again on other stages around Manchester, and it deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
Aaron Lavery, Manchester Metro
Origin
Jeni Howarth Williams
It was around the third run of The Bench that I started getting an idea for the follow up - a follow up that would actually be a prequel.
As I said previously one of the reasons I wrote The Bench was to use it as a way of introducing some new characters to Paradise Heights, characters that I would want to revisit in future productions. An idea struck me about Corny, the ghost, and his briefly glimpsed romantic relationship with Shirley the angel. All the audience knew about Corny was that when he was alive he lived in Paradise Heights, and it was clear he held a deeply held affection for his community, so much so that he didn't want to leave it even after he had died. It was clear the audience really warmed to his romantic relationship with Shirley, and I wanted to see more of that.
So that made my mind up, I'd tell the story of what happened to Corny and how he met Shirley for the first time. I also wanted to broaden the Paradise Heights canvas and introduce another side of life from the estate, something nocturnal, something set in a taxi rank on the night shift.
I wanted to tell the story over one night, in contrast to The Bench which had taken place over a year. Setting it in a taxi rank gave me a great title, but I also wanted the title to have further echoes within the story, so Corny is an ex boxer who slid down the ranks for a reason that becomes clear during the play, there are also hints at local police corruption in the ranks.
As I said previously one of the reasons I wrote The Bench was to use it as a way of introducing some new characters to Paradise Heights, characters that I would want to revisit in future productions. An idea struck me about Corny, the ghost, and his briefly glimpsed romantic relationship with Shirley the angel. All the audience knew about Corny was that when he was alive he lived in Paradise Heights, and it was clear he held a deeply held affection for his community, so much so that he didn't want to leave it even after he had died. It was clear the audience really warmed to his romantic relationship with Shirley, and I wanted to see more of that.
So that made my mind up, I'd tell the story of what happened to Corny and how he met Shirley for the first time. I also wanted to broaden the Paradise Heights canvas and introduce another side of life from the estate, something nocturnal, something set in a taxi rank on the night shift.
I wanted to tell the story over one night, in contrast to The Bench which had taken place over a year. Setting it in a taxi rank gave me a great title, but I also wanted the title to have further echoes within the story, so Corny is an ex boxer who slid down the ranks for a reason that becomes clear during the play, there are also hints at local police corruption in the ranks.
'There are nods to THE THING, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, HALLOWEEN , HIGH NOON and THE WEIR, but this is very much an original tale...' Joe O'Byrne
Joe O'Byrne
The story is set on Halloween. A night for ghosts, goblins and mischief. I wanted to create an atmosphere of fear, dread and isolation for Lisa, the protagonist and owner of the isolated taxi rank. As we join her, her business and even her life are under threat from the local criminal community - she's due to give a statment in court about the killing of an innocent in a cross fire between two marauding street gangs - she has to be stopped.
The story has a deep rooted reality at the core. The tale is very much influenced by the story of Reece Jones, the young boy mistakenly shot by a gang member in Liverpool. I remember being horrified by the reports of certain parts of the community closing ranks around the killer. I wondered what it would be like for a person to know what had happened but be afraid of saying anything, and at the same time horrified and outraged that it had happened in the first place, what would you do? There comes a time when we have to make a stand, and this is Lisa's dillema, but it's an event from her past that becomes the catalyst. She has decided enough was enough. She will have her day in court.
That catalyst is Frank Morgan, an event from her past and an event familiar to those who have seen either I'M FRANK MORGAN as a play or film. Again this is a stand alone tale, you don't have to have seen what has gone before to enjoy the production. It's interesting that many members of the audience felt Frank's presence in the play, even though he is never heard or seen.
Disembodied voices play a part. A local phone in radio show, calls to the rank from the public, drivers and an unseen menace. The night time DJ broadcasting from Paradise Radio sets the play off, a talk show discussing the comtemporary issue of being 'a grass' and the serious implications of trying to do the right thing. The DJ apologising for the interference caused by the solar storm - a storm also disrupting mobile telephones, police communications and cab and rank radio's.
Ghost stories are swapped between the drivers in the rank, all part of Halloween but Lisa's tale is the most disturbing, about her and her brother Corny MacGeehan, and the inevitable links to the dark deeds of Frank Morgan.
The fear and dread are ranked up when we realise the police have their hands full tonight. Dealing with civil disobedience on a grand scale as a riot is engulfing the estate, masked gangs of youths creating havoc - all orchestrated by the family of the gang member accused of the shooting. They are clearing the way to get to Lisa MacGeehan tonight...
And one of Lisa's drivers, Marek, would have a very strange and unsettling encounter on one of the estates dark lonely roads, an encounter only heard by the audience over the rank's stuttering radio. An event outside a house on Athlone Avenue...an event that would be revisited in cinematic form in THE WATCHER, the next project that would come from TALES FROM PARADISE HEIGHTS.
The story has a deep rooted reality at the core. The tale is very much influenced by the story of Reece Jones, the young boy mistakenly shot by a gang member in Liverpool. I remember being horrified by the reports of certain parts of the community closing ranks around the killer. I wondered what it would be like for a person to know what had happened but be afraid of saying anything, and at the same time horrified and outraged that it had happened in the first place, what would you do? There comes a time when we have to make a stand, and this is Lisa's dillema, but it's an event from her past that becomes the catalyst. She has decided enough was enough. She will have her day in court.
That catalyst is Frank Morgan, an event from her past and an event familiar to those who have seen either I'M FRANK MORGAN as a play or film. Again this is a stand alone tale, you don't have to have seen what has gone before to enjoy the production. It's interesting that many members of the audience felt Frank's presence in the play, even though he is never heard or seen.
Disembodied voices play a part. A local phone in radio show, calls to the rank from the public, drivers and an unseen menace. The night time DJ broadcasting from Paradise Radio sets the play off, a talk show discussing the comtemporary issue of being 'a grass' and the serious implications of trying to do the right thing. The DJ apologising for the interference caused by the solar storm - a storm also disrupting mobile telephones, police communications and cab and rank radio's.
Ghost stories are swapped between the drivers in the rank, all part of Halloween but Lisa's tale is the most disturbing, about her and her brother Corny MacGeehan, and the inevitable links to the dark deeds of Frank Morgan.
The fear and dread are ranked up when we realise the police have their hands full tonight. Dealing with civil disobedience on a grand scale as a riot is engulfing the estate, masked gangs of youths creating havoc - all orchestrated by the family of the gang member accused of the shooting. They are clearing the way to get to Lisa MacGeehan tonight...
And one of Lisa's drivers, Marek, would have a very strange and unsettling encounter on one of the estates dark lonely roads, an encounter only heard by the audience over the rank's stuttering radio. An event outside a house on Athlone Avenue...an event that would be revisited in cinematic form in THE WATCHER, the next project that would come from TALES FROM PARADISE HEIGHTS.
