Sprays of liquor outnumber spurts of blood in this slightly sanitised new adaptation – written by Kieran Lynn, direction by John Young, produced by Storyhouse – of Herbert Asbury’s 1928 book The Gangs of New York. Vying for rule of the city are the nativists, led by Bill “the Butcher”, and Irish Catholics who gradually converge around immigrant John Morrissey, fresh off the boat and in search of prosperity. Contradiction slices through the drama like a blade: dance lessons are juxtaposed with sparring lessons; weddings follow funerals; politics alternates with punch-ups.: dance lessons are juxtaposed against sparring lessons; weddings follow funerals; politics alternates with punch-ups.
Oisín Thompson teases out the hypocrisy of Morrissey, who becomes more disreputable the more he strives for honour. Whenever he defends his pursuit of “a better life”, he can’t help but snarl it; when he casts out his arms in a display of honesty, he also puffs out his chest and clenches his fists. But his story, of an outsider establishing himself, is reduced to straggly offcuts with sporadic references to immigrants as “invaders”, when it should run through the meat of the play.
