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RUM by Joe Mallalieu

 
Richard Beck Review by Richard Beck 5 Published: 21 Aug 2024 Underbelly, Cowgate Show Dates: 17 Aug 2024-25 Aug 2024

The exposed brick of a top-floor cavern at Underbelly Cowgate is the ideal setting for actor/writer Joe Mallalieu’s premiere of Rum, a solo play rooted in his experience of growing up in a working class family of three generations in the building trade, where the boys were born with a trowel in their hands.

Mallalieu's storytelling is captivating and impassioned

Danny has to urgently finish off some plastering before the wealthy customer returns. His mate should have done it yesterday, but instead scarpered off leaving holes in the wall. Bags of plaster litter the stage, along with his tool box, trowel, motorised paddle mixer and tub, all showing the signs of use, with hardened splatterings of plaster all over them. He also has to write a speech for a very special occasion today; not something he’s done before or is any good at, but it’s really important and adds to his stress. A can of beer and a line of coke relieves some of his tension, as does the next one.

He’s one of the rum lads; the guys who work on building sites and tell stories full of bravado, of night-time escapades, of shagging and drinking and narrowly dodging the law; of having no care for the consequences of their actions and behaving larger than life. They are great storytellers with plenty to draw on and an ability to heighten the tragedies and comedies with a little ego-boosting embellishment.

But the banter tends to be superficial. Danny might have all the tools of his trade but he’s lacking the tools to deal with emotional situations and his mental well-being. Besides, men don't talk about those sorts of things; they keep their feelings to themselves; they put on a brave face and maintain the stiff upper lip of masculinity because there’s a stigma attached to showing any signs of vulnerability.

As the clock ticks and the big event draws closer we are drawn deeper and deeper into the raw recesses of Danny’s mind, where childhood memories lurk and his inability to deal with what he has to confront festers. Nothing and no one has prepared him for this and the abyss of male culture offers only a void to stare into.

Mallalieu's storytelling is captivating and impassioned. His naturally rich Southport/Bramhall accent has a down-to-earth ring. There’s nothing fake or put on here. He was a plasterer long before he was an actor and he knows the people he’s talking about and their lives. Danny says, “If the prep’s done well, the plaster goes on well. If things are done right at the start, things go easier later on.” Along with Tess Seddon’s tight direction all the prep makes for a smooth finish, a highly polished performance and a deeply moving story.

Rum is more than one man’s story. It’s a plea for men to open up, to educate their sons differently and to start tackling the crisis in male mental health. Fitting then that Max Emmerson Productions is partnered with Andy’s Man Club, a men’s suicide prevention charity who offer free to attend peer-to-peer support groups for men aged over 18.

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The Blurb:

'Why would anyone work in an office. In a suit, stuck in a cubicle. We shit in buckets and for some reason that makes us freer than them. It just does'. Meet Danny, plastering since he was a kid, not scared of anything, he's RUM. Danny's been up all night and now he's rushing to finish a job before he gives the speech of his life. RUM is the raw one-man play that wrestles masculinity, mental health and addiction in the trade. 'A play of rare truth, raw humour and real force' (Simon Stephens).