Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Mark Fisher

The Legend of Davie McKenzie review – Butch, Sundance and the ultimate cinematic send-off

Sean Connor (left) and Afton Moran on stage holding their fingers like guns in The Legend of Davie McKenzie.
‘Good humour and poignancy’ … Sean Connor (left) and Afton Moran in The Legend of Davie McKenzie. Photograph: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

The title is ironic. There is nothing legendary about Davie McKenzie. Scarcely out of prison after doing time for possession, the fictional hero of this lunchtime play ends up dead, having scored a batch of tainted drugs. It is three days before anyone even notices.

That sounds like a spoiler, but it happens surprisingly early in a play that is less about a worthless death than a meaningful life. Surviving him is his cellmate and childhood friend Sean Molloy, good-natured despite circumstance dealing him a bad hand. Naive and powerless he might be, he is desperate to invest significance in the life of a friend who has died so young and needlessly.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.