The Bench: A Tale from Paradise Heights
Pic by Darren McGinn
All poster imagery by and photography by Darren McGinn
‘Stephen King meets Jimmy McGovern’
It’s haunted. The bench in the park. The one by the war memorial.
Over twelve months, sixteen lives intertwine around a graffiti scarred bench. A thief, a fake clairvoyant, a homeless man, two burglars, a street sweeper, two war veterans, an artist, a widow, a drug dealer, a real clairvoyant, a loan shark, an angel, and a ghost — they have all sat here at least once this year. Love, loss, laughter, and terror all pass across the aged wood of that bench.
Some people are afraid of ghosts, but it’s the living that can do the real damage; and before the year is out one of them will be murdered here…
The Bench is haunting, enchanting, hilarious, and at times terrifying; it is a deeply human tale from the world of Paradise Heights.
Age Limit: 16+ Adult Language and Content
It’s haunted. The bench in the park. The one by the war memorial.
Over twelve months, sixteen lives intertwine around a graffiti scarred bench. A thief, a fake clairvoyant, a homeless man, two burglars, a street sweeper, two war veterans, an artist, a widow, a drug dealer, a real clairvoyant, a loan shark, an angel, and a ghost — they have all sat here at least once this year. Love, loss, laughter, and terror all pass across the aged wood of that bench.
Some people are afraid of ghosts, but it’s the living that can do the real damage; and before the year is out one of them will be murdered here…
The Bench is haunting, enchanting, hilarious, and at times terrifying; it is a deeply human tale from the world of Paradise Heights.
Age Limit: 16+ Adult Language and Content
The Bench: A Tale from Paradise Heights Trailer
Reviews:
The cast are brilliant, and the plot is too. The costume and accent changes are amazing, in the literal blink of an eye they are someone different. The show enchants you, thrills you, chills you, haunts you and will break your heart. John Kristof, Number9Reviews
Entirely gripping. Utterly enthralling. A play like Joe O'Byrne's comes along to remind us all what really matters. Steve Balshaw, Grimmfest
Written, produced and directed by Joe O’Byrne, this sharp and telling play features all manner of fascinating characters. Highly recommended and a play and writer that will surely go on to great things.
Kevin Bourke, Manchester Evening News
Loved it! Wonderful gags out of left field, intrigue, suspense, heart-rending scenes and heart-warming moments. A great night of theatre! Do more!
David Slack, Manchester 24/7 Theatre Festival
Magnificent production...wickedly delightful...wonderfully comic...terrifyingly magnificent. A diverse array of characters played by six actors at the top of their game.
Rick Lane, Midlands Theatre
There were some really bone chilling moments... and at other times the audience could not stop laughing. Well done to everyone involved, a truly incredible production.
Tracey Fone, Better Than Words
O’Byrne’s writing has real depth as his characters give a voice to people who are rarely portrayed in such a naturalistic, truthful way in theatre.
Gill Lewis, The Reviews Hub
O’Byrne makes us care about these characters as people, and his direction is faultless. Life on the streets of ‘broken Britain’. The Bench is giving it to us like it is no frills theatre with balls and undiluted attitude. Brian Gorman, thepublicreviews.com
Like Jim Cartwright, O’Byrne has a knack of finding poetry in the most ordinary situations: he also has real affection for his characters, and they feel like flesh and blood people.
Steve Timms, whatsonstage.com
A wonderful play. It was gripping, it was mind blowing and what an imagination Joe O’Byrne has - no wonder he is being labelled as ‘Stephen King meets Jimmy McGovern’. We were spellbound at the end. Absolutely amazing. Steve and Chris, Radio Clatterbridge
The cast are brilliant, and the plot is too. The costume and accent changes are amazing, in the literal blink of an eye they are someone different. The show enchants you, thrills you, chills you, haunts you and will break your heart. John Kristof, Number9Reviews
Entirely gripping. Utterly enthralling. A play like Joe O'Byrne's comes along to remind us all what really matters. Steve Balshaw, Grimmfest
Written, produced and directed by Joe O’Byrne, this sharp and telling play features all manner of fascinating characters. Highly recommended and a play and writer that will surely go on to great things.
Kevin Bourke, Manchester Evening News
Loved it! Wonderful gags out of left field, intrigue, suspense, heart-rending scenes and heart-warming moments. A great night of theatre! Do more!
David Slack, Manchester 24/7 Theatre Festival
Magnificent production...wickedly delightful...wonderfully comic...terrifyingly magnificent. A diverse array of characters played by six actors at the top of their game.
Rick Lane, Midlands Theatre
There were some really bone chilling moments... and at other times the audience could not stop laughing. Well done to everyone involved, a truly incredible production.
Tracey Fone, Better Than Words
O’Byrne’s writing has real depth as his characters give a voice to people who are rarely portrayed in such a naturalistic, truthful way in theatre.
Gill Lewis, The Reviews Hub
O’Byrne makes us care about these characters as people, and his direction is faultless. Life on the streets of ‘broken Britain’. The Bench is giving it to us like it is no frills theatre with balls and undiluted attitude. Brian Gorman, thepublicreviews.com
Like Jim Cartwright, O’Byrne has a knack of finding poetry in the most ordinary situations: he also has real affection for his characters, and they feel like flesh and blood people.
Steve Timms, whatsonstage.com
A wonderful play. It was gripping, it was mind blowing and what an imagination Joe O’Byrne has - no wonder he is being labelled as ‘Stephen King meets Jimmy McGovern’. We were spellbound at the end. Absolutely amazing. Steve and Chris, Radio Clatterbridge
Seasons Trailer by Darren mcGinn
THE BENCH: The Novel
Book cover by Joe O'Byrne
I've finally written my first novel.
I've been threatening to do it for decades. I decided to take my play THE BENCH and transform that into my first novel.
To tell a tale laid out in twelve months, twelve chapters and show more of the world that the constraints of a stage would not allow. But as I revisited the characters I found so much more in them, and a much more vivid world than I'd originally imagined and therefore there is much more here than in the play. It's a fully formed world and it has many seeds sewn for future novels, future Tales from Paradise Heights. I have a great sense of achievement as the novel has always been just out of my grasp. Not any more. I'm bitten by the bug and there will be more novels to come, more Tales from Paradise Heights in novel form.
The play has always been much loved by audiences, some seeing the production five times or more in prestige venues like Salford's The Lowry, The Octagon Theatre, Bolton and The Library Theatre in Manchester. The reviews for the play have always been glowing so it seemed a good cornerstone to build a series of novels around. I'm glad I chose it, I've loved writing it.
Thank you all, the actors, audiences, technicians, photographers, film crews, reviewers, and theatres without whom I would not have reached this point. And a HUGE thank you to the great Martine Cole for reading the book and giving me a lovely quote.
I'm obviously looking for reviewers, publicists and publishers now, but for now here's a link to the ebook novel online.
www.amazon.co.uk/Bench-Tale-Paradise-Heights-Tales-ebook/dp/B013VNYZOY
Joe x
I've been threatening to do it for decades. I decided to take my play THE BENCH and transform that into my first novel.
To tell a tale laid out in twelve months, twelve chapters and show more of the world that the constraints of a stage would not allow. But as I revisited the characters I found so much more in them, and a much more vivid world than I'd originally imagined and therefore there is much more here than in the play. It's a fully formed world and it has many seeds sewn for future novels, future Tales from Paradise Heights. I have a great sense of achievement as the novel has always been just out of my grasp. Not any more. I'm bitten by the bug and there will be more novels to come, more Tales from Paradise Heights in novel form.
The play has always been much loved by audiences, some seeing the production five times or more in prestige venues like Salford's The Lowry, The Octagon Theatre, Bolton and The Library Theatre in Manchester. The reviews for the play have always been glowing so it seemed a good cornerstone to build a series of novels around. I'm glad I chose it, I've loved writing it.
Thank you all, the actors, audiences, technicians, photographers, film crews, reviewers, and theatres without whom I would not have reached this point. And a HUGE thank you to the great Martine Cole for reading the book and giving me a lovely quote.
I'm obviously looking for reviewers, publicists and publishers now, but for now here's a link to the ebook novel online.
www.amazon.co.uk/Bench-Tale-Paradise-Heights-Tales-ebook/dp/B013VNYZOY
Joe x