Is The Monk a play, a pity party or PR spin for Gerry Hutch?

Veteran criminal and would-be politician performs in a play about his life

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Crime boss Gerry Hutch and actor Rex Ryan who star in The Monk. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins
Crime boss Gerry Hutch and actor Rex Ryan who star in The Monk. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins

What started as a one-man play about the life and times of Gerry Hutch became a two-hander this week when, in a curtain-raising surprise, Hutch himself appears on stage to deliver a prologue.

Rex Ryan premiered his play The Monk – called after the widely used nick-name of his subject – last summer but for its second outing it moved to a much larger Dublin venue, The Ambassador, for a weeklong run.

Ryan, who produces, stars and directs The Monk is, says Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally, a powerful presence on stage.

Hutch, adds little says Lally – except audience pulling power. He went along to a performance to see how Hutch, whose career he has followed closely, is portrayed. He gives his plain-speaking review here.

Lally found the section on the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin deeply distasteful and the extent to which RTÉ journalist Paul Reynolds lives rent-free in Hutch’s head simply bizarre.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast

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