In today’s world – and for much of the previous 20th century in fact – borders have been in place across the world ‘to sustain security’ and ‘stop conflict escalating’. For those ‘manning the wall’, their perspective on events in the area may not be identical to those around them or tally with the narrative spun by the powers-that-be…

Written by Laurence McKeown and directed by Paula McFetridge, Green & Blue was originally performed by Kabosh Theatre in 2016. Inspired by the anecdotes and testimonies of those who served in the Garda Síochána and the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the years before the Good Friday Agreement, Green & Blue throws a light on what it was like for those patrolling the Irish border.

As RUC officer David McCabe, Vincent Higgins is the most ‘serious’ of the two men. Taciturn by nature, McCabe admits that he doesn’t ‘live’ near the border – he just ‘works’ there. As much a conscious decision to be ‘feared’ and respected, McCabe’s ‘distance’ from the world around him is also a natural apprehensive response by the locals. McCabe is only too aware that he and his fellow officers of the RUC are not ‘welcome’ by some and therefore, potential targets of the IRA. On the whole, ‘experience’ has taught him to be distrustful of the answer given by those he senses are ‘suspicious’.

McCabe divulges that specificity in the naming of location areas is standard protocol for RUC officers, as depending on which part of Belfast one is referring to for instance, denotes whether there is likely to be any trouble or not. Through the other things he mentions, we sense that his ‘exactitude’ extends to every aspect of life, from procedures that keep him safe to  the ‘nature of the world’. The odd occasion where ‘cracks’ appear – when McCabe admits how startled he was to learn how ‘recently’ Northern Ireland’s political status has been in existence – that we see that  his sense of identity has shifted ever so slightly.

In many ways the polar opposite of McCabe, James Doran’s Garda Eddie O’Halloran very much ‘lives’ in his community, patrolling the Monaghan side of the border. He doesn’t treat his job so ‘seriously’ as McCabe (at least with regards his own personal safety as he’s not perceived as a threat). Much like the archetypal British ‘bobbies’, O’Halloran is unarmed during his day-to-day duties in the community. One could draw parallels with these two distinct schools of policing all over the world, and how expectations and respective experience of danger dictate habitual responses.

But while in some ways things are less stressful for O’Halloran, life isn’t exactly a bed of roses for him. Originally from west Cork, O’Halloran’s posting to the border has taken him from most people of his former life. Reading between the lines, we get a sense that there’s a stigma (from O’Halloran’s peers anyway) of being stationed at the border and how it makes people (down south) uncomfortable.

Even when O’Halloran’s wife joins him ‘up north’, she doesn’t stay indefinitely and in the long-term, the distance between Cork and the border puts a strain on his marriage and relationship with his sons. By way of contrast, McCabe married a Catholic woman from Northern Ireland and they were effectively ‘ostracised’ by both her family and his. The McCabes may be ‘outcasts’, but they have each other and stick together. However you look at it, being a policeman – especially at the Irish border during the time of The Troubles – made one lonely and cut off from the world around them.

Following each performance of Green & Blue, there is an after-show discussion between Kabosh’s artistic director Paula McFetridge and the audience. As the play is only just over an hour long, but contains a lot of information to ‘emotionally unpack’, the post-show discussion is a great way to ‘decompress’ and reciprocate in the sharing of thoughts and impressions, as well as learning in more detail about the genesis of Green & Blue.

Also, enclosed with the show’s programme are pertinent questions on a feedback form –  not to ‘lead’ the audience to a specified emotional response or way of thinking, but to gauge how receptive people are to the ‘grey areas’, to the issues raised in the play, to empathy, to the characters’ respective humanity. These included:

• I have a level of sympathy with individuals who are in police force
• I have a positive association with the police force
• I see people serving in uniforms as individuals
• I feel comfortable communicating with officers
• I find police officers approachable
• I can relate to people serving in uniform

Obviously, regardless of how one relates to the characters in the play, the way police behave and are perceived around the world differs from place to place, so there may not be a synergy there. In every country, the nature of police as an institution and who do they ‘really’ serve is a conversation that’s taking place (in the media at least). But as this play shows, while it may be easy to group together all police officers as one monolithic block, they are individuals too and ‘fighting their own private battles’ on a daily basis.

Green & Blue doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, but in a world full of entrenched opinions, the willingness to have a dialogue with ‘the other’ about the recent past and the problems we face now is needed more than ever.

© Michael Davis 2023

Green & Blue ran at the Midlands Arts Centre on 24th October. It also runs at Hope Street Theatre, Liverpool on 28th October:
https://ticketquarter.co.uk/visitliverpool/Online/seatSelect.asp

Green & Blue tours North America shortly afterwards at the following venues and dates:

Performing Arts Centre, Emory University, Atlanta, 2nd November:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/green-blue-02-november-2023-emory-university-tickets-734772583577?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Performing Arts Centre, Emory University, Atlanta, 3rd November:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/green-blue-3-november-2023-emory-university-tickets-734796444947?aff=oddtdtcreator

City Theatre, Pittsburgh, 9th – 11th November:
https://citytheatre.culturaldistrict.org/production/92247/green-and-blue

New York Irish Center, 15th – 16th November: https://www.newyorkirishcenter.org/events/2023/11/15/green-amp-blue-theatre-production-from-kabosh-theatre-company

Boston College, 18th November: https://www.bc.edu/

St Brigid’s Center for the Arts, Ottawa, 22nd – 24th November:
https://saintbrigidscentre.com/