Hapless freedom fighters, the Dundonald Liberation Army are back and are taking no prisoners when it comes to entertaining a Belfast crowd.
Lockdown DLA, an original play by comic writer Stephen Large and directed by Gerard McCabe, is currently running at the MAC and perfectly captures the “unprecedented” time entering the first lockdown.
Set in March 2020, it tells the story of reputed Dundonald Liberation Army (a fictional cross-community paramilitary group) boss Davy "The Venezuelan" Taylor and his right-hand man John "Horse" McCracken, being forced to isolate together in their high-rise flat.
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The MAC was an excellent choice of venue when staging the show as the humour is quintessentially Northern Irish and there is no better place to take the hand out of ourselves than the heart of Belfast city centre.
The close proximity of the audience to the stage in Downstairs at the MAC really lends itself to the actual production - bringing us right up close with Davy and Horse, as if locked down with them ourselves. It was funny to think that at the time the play transports us back to, the idea of even sitting beside someone in a theatre would have been unimaginable.
Lockdown DLA was a series of laughs from the minute the lights went up to the final bow. Large’s writing was a testament to his skill and talent as the entire script was littered with excellent one-liners, NI references that had the crowd fully roaring with laughter and genuinely funny jokes. He also was able to capture what that period was like in a wholly nostalgic and hilarious way without discrediting the severity of the pandemic on the country.
The play acts as almost an out-of-body experience which allows us to look back and laugh at the collective experience we had during that first lockdown. Banana bread, Joe Wicks workouts and stockpiling toilet rolls - many of the jokes felt like a fever dream reminding me of the wild things my family and I did ourselves to keep entertained over lockdown.
A reference to the wild rumour that the Dundonald Ice Bowl was to be turned into a morgue perfectly summed up how we can all look back and laugh at the ridiculous rumours we believed while reminding us that was our reality only two years ago.
The comedic timing of Matthew McElhinney and Matthew Forsythe did not miss a mark. If you told me the duo had really been friends running about since Davy’s ma gave Horse her Ben Sherman t-shirt, I would have believed you.
The pair bounced incredibly off each other and were not afraid to make themselves look the fool in the name of comedy and it paid off.
Matthew McElhinney as Davy was a personification of that Facebook aunt who had been digging into the conspiracy theories a little too long during lockdown. The absurd physical comedy of the duo was paired perfectly with Large’s writing to give a high-energy performance that never dipped.
Matthew Forsythe as the slow but lovable Horse had me in stitches every time he opened his mouth. The snappy back and forth between the two men as we watched them go stir crazy over a year period had my sister and I reflecting on our lockdown experience the entire way home.
I haven’t been at a show in a long time where the crowd were as loud and invested in what was going on in front of them - many a ‘yeooo’, cheer and roar of laugher bellowed through the MAC all night and it almost felt like a crowd at a stand-up comedy gig compared to the usual theatre goers.
If you are looking for something to entertain you this weekend and are in need of a good belly laugh, check out Lockdown DLA at the MAC.
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