THE timing is spookily prescient. Just as Northern Ireland elects its first Sinn Fein leader, an award-winning play that portrays a die-hard Ulster Unionist who’s convinced that his baby granddaughter is Gerry Adams is returning to the Scottish stage.
After both shocking and thrilling audiences at sell-out shows at the 250-seat Tron Theatre in Glasgow, Cyprus Avenue is transferring to the city’s 1450-seat Pavilion for a week-long run on February 27.
He admits he’s biased, but star David Hayman says it is one of the most hilarious and challenging plays audiences will ever see.
It’s hard to argue with the awards the play has garnered, or its five-star reviews – and Hayman’s opinion can’t be easily dismissed either. He’s a veteran of acclaimed theatre, film and TV productions including supporting Pierce Brosnan in The Tailor Of Panama, Bruce Willis in The Jackal, Taboo opposite Tom Hardy and Hatton Garden, which he starred in opposite Timothy Spall.
Yet rather than be blasé about starring in another production, Hayman told the Sunday National he’s “very excited” about appearing at the Pavilion.
“It’s the first time a state-run show has transferred to a commercial theatre in Scotland so it’s great for Scottish theatre,” he said. “It’s fantastic as it makes money for the Tron as well as the Pavilion and as the Tron has just had a savage funding cut of more than £100,000 by the city council, the funds are needed badly.”
Written by the award-winning David Ireland of Derry Girls fame, it is directed by former Tron artistic director Andy Arnold.
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Hayman plays Eric, a Belfast loyalist who feels his world is tumbling down around him because there are now more Catholics than Protestants in the Province, meaning that a united Ireland is creeping closer.
“He has a blind faith in God and Ulster but he feels his power base is crumbling,” said Hayman.
To take control, Eric believes he has to get rid of his baby granddaughter who he thinks is the former leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA.
Glasgow audiences particularly appreciate the play because it is “like lancing a boil”, according to Hayman.
“We have lived with sectarianism all our lives and seen the downside of it and how it can screw people up,” he said.
“Cyprus Avenue makes you ask why we live in a world like this, why we have these prejudices and looks at the danger of blind faith of any kind.
“We all bleed blood, we are all human beings and we have just got to open up to more compassion and understanding.”
With Sinn Fein now leading Northern Ireland’s devolved assembly, it does look like Eric’s fears are coming true, doesn’t it?
“Oh for sure, those dinosaur days are numbered,” said Hayman. “They are from another age. I don’t think unity is going to be that easy but I think this is a step in the right direction, if that’s what people want.
“The question is whether people in the south want Northern Ireland as it is a bit of a basket case economically while the south is doing quite well. Who knows? It’s interesting times.”
The discrepancy of Northern Ireland’s right to a vote on its constitutional future compared with the lack of a democratic process for Scotland is not lost on Hayman.
“It means we have been shafted again, as always,” he said. “What is really interesting, despite everything the SNP are going through at the moment, is that support for independence is still really high. I am really encouraged by that.
“The polls do vary but I like to be an optimist. I hope to see independence in my lifetime but they better make it quick.”
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Cyprus Avenue is not the only drama Hayman has recently been working on as he is currently starring in the feature film Raging Grace and will soon appear in an ITV series called Protection along with Happy Valley’s Siobhan Finneran.
Straight after Cyprus Avenue’s run, however, Hayman is off to Malawi with his charity, Spirit Aid, which feeds around 2000 children in the country along with supporting humanitarian work in Afghanistan and Palestine. What’s happening in Gaza shocks him and he’s worried that nurses the charity has helped have been killed in the Israeli onslaught.
“It’s horrific,” he said. “Genocide is happening over there and the West is completely complicit in the whole thing. It’s shocking that Keir Starmer or Sunak can’t even call for a ceasefire. At least Humza had the cajones to call for one.”
On a positive note, Hayman was heartened by the response to the charity over Christmas which helped Spirit Aid deliver10,000 toys and hundreds of bags of food to people in need. In tandem with the Wise Group and the Celtic Foundation, Spirit Aid is also paying for the energy needs of 60 families throughout the winter.
He is hoping more money can be raised on the Loch Lomond Kiltwalk in April as the charity has 250 places for people to take part.
“We have a party afterwards so it’s a smashing day out,” said Hayman.
David Hayman will appear in Cyprus Avenue at the Pavilion Theatre from February 27 until March 2
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