Leader like David Ervine ‘missed by working class unionists’

‘The Man Who Swallowed A Dictionary’, a one-man show which tells the story of Ervine becoming one of the leading figures of Northern Ireland's peace process, opened at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast on Tuesday night and received a standing ovation.

With just a giant book and a pipe as props, actor Paul Garrett, whose previous credits include ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Bloodlands’, explores Ervine's childhood, involvement with loyalist terrorists, prison, his political career and a family tragedy which happened shortly before his death in 2007 at the age of 53.

Co-producer Martin Lynch said they spent hours watching footage of Ervine during his life and even sourced the same pipe that the politician enjoyed smoking.

Mr Lynch said he was sent the script by Robert Niblock around two years ago and immediately loved the title.

“Like a lot of people, I've always been very impressed by David Ervine as a politician and as a man in terms of what he came through to get to where he got to,” he said.

“A lot of us, including myself, have come through a process like that, rejecting violence in the end. David Ervine did that and did it very eloquently.

“The big achievement he created was he brought the Protestant working-class to the Good Friday Agreement ... I think if he hadn't stepped in when he did, there may not have been the majority (supporting the agreement) that eventually happened.