The Jolly Fisherman ★★★★★

John Dinneen‘s play, The Jolly Fisherman, is storytelling so visceral that it’s easy to imagine your feet sticking to the beer-soaked carpet at the eponymous pub.

Alan is a young lad – just 13 – and promoted to sit with the adults, away at last from the kids’ table. His mates are his Dad’s (also Alan), and named prosaically, Double Cream, C-section and Fat Pat. Lil, the landlady, is Alan’s second mum, the pub his second home and where he is proud to be, amongst his people.

One day, on the bus to school, he meets Amir, a young British Muslim who has recently moved into his street, and slowly the two become friends. Alan entices Amir to come and play darts with him in the pub, crossing a cultural divide, and introduces him, tentatively, to his family and friends. As the friendship develops, Amir, at Alan’s request, takes him to his mosque.

This is a story of 21st-century British cultures and experiences, and it is so beautifully told by the two actors – Alex Hill and Jonny Khan – as to be wickedly funny and deeply moving. The friendship of the two young lads, from teenagers to young men in their twenties, grows and develops with such extraordinary accuracy and nuance in this hour-long piece that their lived experiences are tangible and incredibly poignant.

A final scene, which is preceded by conflict between the two, brings a moment of real tension and turmoil, and from which it is impossible to guess how or if the relationship will endure.