Review
2024
JUNO and the
PAYCOCK
★★★★
Until 23rd November 2024
Gielgud Theatre
Mon 7 Oct, 2024

Preview
There is a lot to take from Juno and the Paycock, least of all a rare opportunity to explore one of Ireland's premiere playwrights and his seminal works. Times have changed a lot over the past 40 years, but there is still a lack of access to the Republic's history, particularly their Civil War, and O'Casey's text is a heartfelt ode to a time and a people who now languish in history.
J. Smith Cameron has a mighty task on her hands, least of all because this production also serves as her West End debut. Juno is an amalgamation of so many Irish women of the day. Their ability to keep their heads high in the face of the everyday challenges of living through such social and political change. Juno does this with the utmost temerity.
From the moment Smith-Cameron comes onto the stage, she brings with her this sense of genuine urgency to Juno. It's with Juno that Smith-Cameron has been able to find a voice not just for this character but for hundreds and thousands of Irish women who, through circumstance, find themselves being the heads of their families. At times Smith-Cameron's presence on stage powerfully evokes these women playwrights O'Casey knew and how they imparted such reverence on his life.
Juno and the Paycock is a complex and at times frustrating play, but it equally allows audiences to gain an insightful depiction of the working class of Dublin trying to forge some sense of life in such a difficult period of Irish history.