Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Clare Bowles, Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Alan Stocks, Keddy Sutton.

An outpouring of respect should be shown to an actor who puts their life in the hands of an audience to the extent that their own inner thoughts, their own passionate affair with the boards and with language become so consuming that they write a play off their own back and present it to a crowd, ever hungry, ever in need of a new production to hold close to their hearts, and feel the sweat and possible damnation coming off the rehearsal floor for.

It is arguably the hardest transition for any actor to conquer, the relative safety of hiding behind another’s words is a route many might feel compelled to put their stock in when confronted by the eyes shining in the darkness, the hiding place assured with the grease paint and the cassock, the habit and the dog collar, is perhaps all too heavenly.

Heavenly though is the comedy soul of Alan Stocks and his erstwhile persona of Father O’ Flaherty and in the blissfully funny and honourably delivered Father O’ Flaherty Saves Our Souls, there is no hiding place, no shelter or sanctuary upon the stage, just the fantastic realisation that when the Muse or the Seraphim has the opportunity to laugh with shoulders back and inhibitions shed, it does so with great glee in its heart.

It takes a man with devilish charm to take on the role of the rogue element, the look of fire in the argumentative and by the book eyes and one to whom has no time for the hero of the piece; yet Alan Stocks obviously takes great pride in knowing how his fellow cast members work and in Paul Duckworth as Father Devlin, the verbal play off, the looks, the sideways glances and comedic jousting was divine, delectable and fiendishly mischievous. Paul Duckworth is one of the city’s highly prized actors and when he is working with Alan Stocks that natural flourish, the allowing of character and drive comes across with controlled but astounding panache.

With Alan Stocks trusting perfectly his cast, the superb Helen Carter, the inspirational and witty Keddy Sutton and the riotous Clare Bowles, as well as the aforementioned Paul Duckworth, each treasured individual talent was blessed and brought out into the world shining as beautiful as a highly polished halo.

A night of the divine, a brand new comedy that allows the memory of such inspired teachings of the much missed Dave Allen to resurface and one in which the communion with the audience is perfectly measured and as hilarious as it is incorruptible.

Ian D. Hall