King of the Gypsies

Paul McCleary plays everyone from the affable Englishman of the title to an Italian father, a gypsy schoolboy and an early traveller leaving India after the enslavement of his family in this wide-ranging one-man show.

The words of many others also feature in the form of taped comments, many of which betray mistrust of gypsy neighbours or an objection to their lifestyle, and while the piece is clearly intended as a call for tolerance it doesn't shy away from admitting that them-and-us attitudes cut both ways.

Ultimately, however, the show suffers from trying to cover too much ground, and the result has a theatre-in-education feel.

A segment inspired by the shocking images of two Roma girls lying dead on an Italian beach while those around them carry on sunbathing evokes the horror and indignity of the scene, but it would have been necessary to devote the full hour to this single event if a proper exploration of its context was to be attempted.

A version of this review first appeared in The Herald.