A man for our time

Almost three years ago, Belfast actor Ian McElhinney was approached to create "something special" for the 10th John Hewitt International Summer School. Not intending to write the piece himself, McElhinney soon found himself immersed in a project which was to exert a powerful personal hold on him. From a welter of newspaper cuttings, critical reviews, essays, academic assessments, recorded interviews and conversations, Hewitt's own writings and, most crucially, the unpublished diaries of his wife, Roberta, he set about devising a one-man show based on the life of the poet and critic.

"I worked my way through an enormous amount of research material, among which were the diaries, brought to me by Roberta's nephew, Keith Miller. I read and re-read it all, culled bits that I liked and set them aside. It was a monumental task. The initial text was twice the length of what I ended up with. The final script is almost entirely written by Hewitt or Roberta, or figures by whom he was influenced or impressed - James Hope, Dr. Alexander Irvine, Mary Ann McCracken, for instance. To their writings, I contributed some bridging passages.

"I played around for some time with the structure. I kept thinking that I wanted to end the first act with the Ulster Museum episode. When I realised that it would be better left until the second act, the whole thing, structurally, took a better shape." The Green Shoot was premiered at the 1997 Hewitt Summer School, in the magnificent setting of St. MacNissi's College on the North Antrim coast, and subsequently performed at two other venues - the Lyric Theatre in Belfast and Clotworthy House in Antrim. Now, for no better reason than his affection for the piece and its central characters, McElhinney has made space in his busy film and television schedule for a touring revival.

But, instead of directing it himself, he approached Belfast's Tinderbox Theatre Company, fresh from its success with Stephen Rea's award-winning production of Northern Star during the 1998 Belfast Festival at Queen's. "I thought it was crazy that it had only been done three times," reflects McElhinney. "Having been away from it for a year and a half, I was sufficiently distanced to step back a little and let someone else in. I went to Stephen Wright at Tinderbox and asked him if he would be interested in reworking it with me, and directing it. The company has a reputation for nurturing new writing and I hoped that together we could find a way to make the piece more interesting, dramatic and entertaining, as well as informative. It's not for me to judge, but I think we have been pretty successful in achieving that aim."

McElhinney has given himself no mean acting task in creating a cast of dramatist personae, which include not only the two fully fleshed central characters of Hewitt and Roberta, but also a gallery of smaller cameo roles. "I wanted to highlight what Hewitt called his `ancestors', his spiritual and emotional ancestors, people who were important to the way he thought and where he was coming from. I wanted to show his and Roberta's young life and the Belfast society they would have been part of in the 1930s and 1940s. I wanted to convey something of the Glens of Antrim, which were such an inspiration to him. Then there was his rejection by the City Fathers as director of the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery in 1952, and the years at the Herbert Lane Gallery in Coventry. Finally, I wanted to include their return to Northern Ireland and the remarkable creative flowering of his later years. It's a very rich story."

While there is no doubting his evident admiration for his subject, McElhinney stresses that he was at pains to portray a rounded view of Hewitt, warts and all. "The piece is not an elegy. There are times when you'll see that he was arrogant, outspoken, angry and opinionated. He could be unfeeling and insensitive towards his wife. Yet you will also see that he had an extraordinary range of interests, an extraordinary passion about things that were important to this community, a wonderful liberalism that was constantly struggling to hold its place in a society in which there was a lot to protest about.

"If he were around today, his views would be absolutely central to the current political debate. He believed that if you are of this place, you must recognise your connection with Ulster, with Ireland, with the British archipelago and with Europe. I would argue that Hewitt is very much a man for our time and, in reviewing his history, you get the sense of how that strain of radical Presbyterianism has run right through the events of this century."

But as McElhinney owns, it is Roberta's diaries, which light the fire under The Green Shoot, providing the sparky humour, uncompromising opinions and mischievous insights that are a gift to the actor. "I am eternally grateful to Keith Miller for giving me access to them. Roberta was a very emotional person. She willingly gave a lot of her energy to her man's success, while confronting the fact that he didn't always succeed. You do get a sense of her wondering at times whether it was a price worth paying. And you see Hewitt as a private person, in a relationship which both supported and ultimately, attacked them - if that is the right word."

The Green Shoot is touring to Armagh on May 15th, Longford on May 21st, Downpatrick on May 23rd, Lisburn on June 8th, Monaghan on June 9th and the Ulster Museum in Belfast from June 10th to 12th.

The John Hewitt Summer School runs from July 26th to 31st at Carnlough, Co. Antrim. Tel: 080 1846 662445 for information.