Theatre: Helping of left-wing comfort food will divide audiences

Jimmy’s Hall is very much a black-and-white story

Jimmy's Hal in the Abbey

Jimmy’s Hall

Directed by Graham McLaren; adapted from Paul Laverty’s film script

Abbey Theatre, Dublin; until August 19

Rating:***

The Abbey Theatre feels like an intimate céilí house. Even before you take your seat at Jimmy’s Hall, a homely trad band are brewing up a storm onstage with fiddles, piano, flute and bodhran. One of the actors then tells us we are about to see the story of “a great Irishman”, followed by ...