Play about alcoholism offers hope after the hell

Rob Hollway from south Belfast said his play, The Painted Lady, draws on his own 20-year battle with alcoholism and subsequent sobriety.

The play’s protagonist is Dan (played by Kevin Elliot), a 40-something recluse in recovery who hides away from the world in a stone cottage in Murlough Nature Reserve in Co Down studying butterfly migration. That is until party girl Kimberley (played by Debra Hill) ends up in his field hungover after a night out.

“It’s a brief encounter, two lost souls, whose paths cross. Initially Dan doesn’t want anybody in his field of thistles, so at the start they are like chalk and cheese, but once they start talking and opening up about their back stories they realise they’ve a lot more in common than they thought,” said Rob.

He added even though Dan is a fictional character, he ‘‘used the clay’’ of his own life to create him.

“Dan sees himself as a kind of a Shrek character, he thinks the world hates him and he wants to isolate himself.”

Rob, who has been sober for 10 years, said he had hit rock bottom in his own life, before deciding something had to change.

“I had spent a week in a psychiatric hospital and basically had lost everything in my life.

“People talk about alcoholism being the great remover and it took a lot from me – a lot materially, my marriage, although I am good friends with my ex-wife, and I have two beautiful kids. I was able to hold down a job for a lot of the time, although that went in the end.

“The play is about crossing paths with people, seemingly randomly, but for a reason. When I stopped drinking a lot of people crossed my path who had long-term sobriety and they helped me, a day at a time, stay off that first drink. I am very grateful for where I am today.”

The play, which is directed by Rachel Coffey, explores a lot of dark, heavy issues like alcoholism, mental health and trauma, but it’s not all gloom.

“There is a magical connection between the two characters – there is a lot of humour and laugh out loud moments,” said Rob.

The play had a successful run of sellout shows at Accidental Theatre in Belfast earlier this year, and audience feedback was very positive.

Rob said one of the messages in this play is “a problem shared is a problem halved.”

“Talking to another person about your problems is such an effective method of relieving the tension in your head. A lot of people said they could identified with it – it gave them a lot to think about and left footprints in their mind a long time after leaving the theatre.”

• The Painted Lady is at The Mac, Belfast, October 18 & 19.