Review: One man Lyric spectacular about David Ervine's life will knock the socks off ussuns and themmuns alike

One-man spectacular The Man Who Swallowed a Dictionary will knock your socks off whether you’re an NI folk of the ussuns or themmuns variety. While the Lyric’s latest headline act plays out the troubled yet monumental life of UVF-man turned PUP leader, David Ervine, it’s a story more about humanity than war.

Expertly delivered in an extraordinary performance centred around two huge books flanked by rugs and containing a few surprise hatches, the exceptional Paul Garrett will have your emotions twisting and turning no matter what side of the North’s imagined divide you hail from.

You might think a two hour performance by one man taking centre stage would leave your mind wandering at times. But Garrett will have you hanging on every word out of his suitably moustached mouth.

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From the opening song to the closing chorus, you will learn a lot about the importance education played in delivering the Good Friday Agreement which saw both the UVF and IRA lay down their arms. Not just from the words he reads from his rather large dictionary but in how much of his family life was sacrificed to make that happen.

We learn how both his father and mother's political views shaped the man he was to become - but how his dad’s lessons about how we are all the same, eventually won out.

Ervine spent time in prison after being arrested while carrying a car bomb. No spoilers but that scene will have you on the edge of your seat.

Garret will take you through David's ups and downs as he plays out his life from meeting his first and life-long love, Jeanette Cunningham, to his time behind bars when Gusty Spence impressed upon him the importance of education.

You’ll learn how he took Irish, studied sociology and then turned his back on the conflict to support his young family in a working class protestant community suffering untold hardship and feeling forgotten by Ian Paisley's DUP.

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Since Ervine became a man of influence with a good head on his shoulders, it wasn’t long before he was drawn back in. This time, however he would be using his words instead of guns and bombs to reach across the divide and form a vital relationship with the Irish Government.

The rest, as they say is history, albeit one that cost him precious family time and no doubt put major pressure on his own health as he encouraged the UVF towards a ceasefire.

Garrett's command of the stage, delivered through an intensely athletic performance that left no space untouched, was magnificent. And in bringing David’s story to a close, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, including his own when the audience stood to applaud his performance.

You might bring old prejudices to the Lyric when you set out to watch this play - but you’ll leave with a new appreciation of the sacrifices David Ervine made to help deliver peace and help his people - despite how his journey began.

Robert Niblock’s touching play The Man Who Swallowed a Dictionary is on at the Lyric until Sunday, September 22. It's the best play I have seen in a very long time. You can book your tickets here.

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