New one man show about life of the late David Ervine to be staged at Lyric

A new play written by Bobby Niblock and brought to the stage by Martin Lynch’s Greenshot Productions, about the life of ex-UVF member and charismatic PUP politician, David Ervine, entitled The Man Who Swallowed a Dictionary, is set to be run at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, May 2-14.

This one-man show, performed by actor Paul Garrett and directed by Matthew McElhinney, chronicles the remarkable life of Ervine (1953-2007), from the backstreets of East Belfast to Maze prisoner to political negotiations at the White House and Downing Street.

From his personal family tragedies to becoming the man who is widely regarded as the politician who did most to deliver Protestant working class support for the Good Friday Agreement, Ervine is an undeniably important figure in the history of Ulster loyalism.

He was also known for his keen grasp of language and capacity for using ‘big words’ in television interviews, hence the title of the play.

It's an extraordinary story, providing a great insight into not just the man, but the Protestant community, throughout the most turbulent period of the Troubles.

Playwright, Bobby Niblock, served time in prison alongside Ervine,and has to date written several plays exploring the politics of the Protestant working class community.

David Ervine was the only member of the Progressive Unionist party (PUP) in the Stormont chamber after the Good Friday Agreement.

The former member of the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 53 on January 8, 2007 having remained a vocal and influential presence to the last.

It was the carnage of Bloody Friday in July 1972, when the IRA exploded 21 bombs without warning across Belfast over the period of an hour, that convinced Ervine that there was no alternative to violence.

Nine people died and more than 10 were injured that day.

He did not even tell his wife at first that he had enrolled with the UVF, the longer established of the two main loyalist paramilitary factions.

Two years later he was arrested and sentenced to 11 years for transporting a bomb.

Interviewed subsequently for a BBC documentary, he was asked whether he had been prepared to kill. "Without question ... totally," he said.