Decky Does a Bronco

Written by Douglas Maxwell. Directed by Ben Harrison.

One of The Observer’s Top 10 Theatrical Events of the Year (2000).

July 2000 – Aug 2002

First performed in July 2000 at Brodie Park, Paisley & then toured Scotland, including Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2001, toured England in co-production with The Almeida Theatre, London and then visited Belfast Festival and Cork Festival Fringe and, in 2002, Dublin with Draiocht in Farmleigh Estate.

AWARDS

Winner: Scotsman Fringe First for Outstanding New Production
Winner: Stage Award for Acting Excellence – Best Ensemble
Nominated: TMS/Barclays Stage Award for Best Touring Production

A smash hit at the 2000 Fringe, Decky has toured successfully on numerous occasions, most notably with the Almeida Theatre.

When returning to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2001, it was part of the British Council Showcase, following which it went to the Cork Fringe (now Midsummer) Festival and Belfast Festival at Queen’s. In 2002, we had the privilege, supported by Draíocht Arts Centre, to perform and stay in Farmleigh Estate, Dublin, the former Guinness family home and now where the Irish Government house visiting heads of state.

We remounted Decky in 2010 for a three and a half month tour of Scotland and England, celebrating its tenth anniversary. More detail about the 2010 cast and tour can be found in the Decky Does a Bronco 2010 section of Past Productions.

In brief: It’s the summer of 1983, and school’s out. Five lads act out their dreams and fears in their local playground in Scotland. Their game, known as “broncoing”, is fast, furious and all about machismo.

Although the manhood for which Decky and his mates are waiting seems a long time coming, little do they know how suddenly and abruptly it will be forced upon them.

A compelling tale of childhood innocence and the perilous passage into adulthood.

View Decky Does a Bronco 2000 Production

View Decky Does a Bronco 2010 Trailer

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What The Press Said

“This play is a triumph on every level. The script, by Glaswegian writer Douglas Maxwell, offers dialogue so natural, familiar and funny it is impossible not to be taken back to your own childhood days… The cast take Maxwell’s ingenious gift and fly. Each characterisation is perfectly observed and it is this talent which makes the play such a massive success. Rarely have I seen such talent packed into an hour and 20 minutes. One viewing was not enough. I’ll be back tonight for seconds.”

The Argus

“This is physical theatre at its best – set in the great outdoors, the outside world encroaches onto the set, giving the play an even greater sheen of reality.”

BBC Oxford Online

“The transfer of acclaimed shows from the Edinburgh Fringe always causes a certain trepidation. What seemed like theatrical gold amid the hype of Edinburgh often turns out to be base metal by the time it has travelled south. So it is a pleasure to report that Decky Does a Bronco, Douglas Maxwell’s haunting play about childhood, seems just as fine the second time round. It is a funny, upsetting, truly original piece that brings up goosebumps even on a warm evening… Watching adults pretending to be children can be embarrassing, but this outstanding company pulls it off with confidence… The play precises captures the moment when childhood innocence gives way to fearful knowledge of the world’s danger and suffering… Decky Does a Bronco is an outstanding piece, at once delicate and tough, and it resonates in the mind long after you have left the dusk of Coram’s Fields.”

The Daily Telegraph

“Utterly convincing and utterly brilliant… frighteningly authentic dialogue made this the most dramatically arresting thing I saw in the festival… I’d run away and join Grid Iron tomorrow.”

The Irish Times (Belfast Festival at Queens 2001)

“Maxwell’s script and Ben Harrison’s spell-binding production heart-wrenchingly capture the precise moment when innocence gives way to appalled knowledge of man’s inhumanity to man.”

The Daily Telegraph

“Ben Harrison’s open-air production marks the return of the brilliantly inventive Grid Iron company, who once again manipulate a living environment – here a real-life playground – to produce theatre that effortlessly breathes straight from the heart… With its eight-strong all-male cast never once appearing cloying as infants, this is a heart-breaking look back at what gets lost amid the things that shape us forever.”

The Times

“Grid Iron Theatre Company’s productions always ‘do a bronco’ – they are dangerous, exhilarating and absolutely brilliant to watch… Director Ben Harrison gets top performances from his young cast and uses the twin casting to great effect – the ‘children’ are often shadowed by their silent ‘adult’ selves, while the adults are haunted by the echo of their childhoods… The piece builds to a scene of powerful beauty and fierce hope that could not fail to move an audience. Maxwell’s writing packs a wicked emotional punch but it is Grid Iron’s vision that leaves you with bruises.”

The Stage

“an event that haunts the memory”

The Scotsman★★★★

“Keith Macpherson gives a commanding performance, supported by a strong cast of seven others, as a man recollecting a long-ago summer of boyish exuberance, re-enacted for us in the present. Funny and haunting by turns, this Grid Iron production, taking place in a well-used swing park, is likely to stay with you long after the event… The childish rumbunctiousness of the characters early on creates an astonishing authenticity, allowing us to progress to a tragic denouement with quite complete engagement. Well worth swinging by for.”

The List★★★★

“Douglas Maxwell’s bittersweet play, written in a sweet, dirty vernacular that details both the innocence and knowingness of childhood, takes the form of a memory play that questions the very nature of memory, guilt and our desire to make tragedy mean something. With the sounds of real children playing nearby, Grid Iron’s superb production, which takes place outside in the George V Park in Canonmills, is all the more poignant, detailing through adult actors the wild, restless unfocused energy of small boys. Grid Iron is unsurpassed in its ability to create site specific work in which there is a perfect marriage of site and subject, They score full marks here again… This is a slight but precious piece of theatre that captures all the fragility of childhood in the blink of an eye and the image of a small boy in a striped T-shirt launching himself off a swing into thin air. Flying, not falling.”

The Guardian★★★★

“Adults playing children isn’t always a recipe for theatrical success, but Grid Iron – who specialise in site-specific work and mount this production in a children’s playground – rise to the challenge with brilliantly observed and comic aplomb.”

The Independent

“Director Ben Harrison’s company continues to stun and delight with its sharp physical performances and brilliant visual style. This collaboration with Maxwell is a must-see mix of exhilaration and desolation which is sure to be a highlight of the Fringe.”

The Metro★★★★★

“Sharply directed by Ben Harrison, Decky Does a Bronco is replete with the vocabulary, speech patterns and preoccupations of nine-year-old boys from 1980s Ayrshire. Funny and richly observed, they are the building blocks of Douglas Maxwell’s elegy to the past… Credit goes to Grid Iron’s technical team for a spot-on sound system. Every word was clear in what was a wide open space in Paisley’s lush Brodie Park. Extremely well executed, too, were the ‘broncoing’ stunts, co-ordinated by Jonothan Campbell. These brought an extra dimension to the show, sometimes making a rattling swing seem like a thing of beauty.”

Mail On Sunday★★★★

“Paul Rattray, Iain Pearson, Muz Murray, Tommy Mullins, Iain Mossman and Brian Ferguson, as directed by Janie Abbott for Scotland’s Grid Iron, effortlessly manage the emotional acrobatics, as well as the physical ones, and all manage the difficult feat of convincingly playing children. Childhood is often something that it takes the rest of your life to get over, and Grid Iron have created a realistic, funny, moving, and, yes, poignant piece of theatre that makes revisiting some universally painful themes entertaining and illuminating.”

Irish Times

Cast (2000)

Decky:
David Ireland

David:
Keith McPherson

Young Chrissy:
Andy Clark

Adult Chrissy:
Craig Smith

Young Barry:
Ross Sutherland

Adult Barry:
Paul Cunningham

Young O’Neill:
Jimmy Harrison

Adult O’Neill:
Muz Murray

Production Team (2000)

Writer:
Douglas Maxwell

Producer:
Judith Doherty

Director:
Ben Harrison

Composer/Sound Designer:
Philip Pinsky

Stunt Co-ordinator:
Jonothan Campbell

Company Stage Manager:
Amy Shapcott

Deputy Stage Manager:
Ross McDade

Production Assistant:
Sunita Hinduja

Dramaturgical Assistant:
Marie Claire McPhilomy

General Manager:
Claire Robb

Set Design & Build:
Allan Ross

Costume Designer:
Alice Bee

Lighting Designer:
George Tarbuck

Graphic Designer:
Emma Quinn

FOH Assistant:
Deborah Crewe

Print Photographer:
Douglas Jones

Production Photographer:
Keith Brame

Cast (2001)

Decky:
David Ireland (played by Alistair Arthur Lay in Belfast and Cork)

David:
Keith McPherson (played by Harry Ward in Oxford and Bath)

Young Chrissy:
Martin Docherty

Adult Chrissy:
Craig Smith

Young Barry:
Ross Sutherland

Adult Barry:
Harry Ward (played by Ronnie McCann in Oxford and Bath)

Young O’Neill:
Jimmy Harrison

Adult O’Neill:
Muz Murray

Production Team (2001)

Writer:
Douglas Maxwell

Producer:
Judith Doherty

Director:
Ben Harrison

Composer/Sound Designer:
Philip Pinsky

Stunt Co-ordinator:
Jonothan Campbell

Company Stage Manager:
Shona Wright

Deputy Stage Manager:
Ross McDade

Production Assistant:
Sunita Hinduja

Dramaturgical Assistant:
Marie Claire McPhilomy

General Manager:
Claire Robb

Set Design & Build:
Allan Ross

Costume Designer:
Alice Bee

Lighting Designer:
George Tarbuck

Graphic Designer:
Emma Quinn

FOH Assistant:
Deborah Crewe

Print Photographer:
Douglas Jones

Production Photographer:
Keith Brame

Cast (2002)

Decky:
Tommy Mullins

David:
Paul Rattray

Young Chrissy:
Garry Collins

Adult Chrissy:
Brian Ferguson

Young Barry:
Jonathan Fegan

Adult Barry:
Iain Mossman

Young O’Neill:
Iain Pearson

Adult O’Neill:
Muz Murray

Production Team (2002)

Writer:
Douglas Maxwell

Producer:
Judith Doherty

Director:
Janie Abbot (using the book from previous performances directed by Ben Harrison)

Composer/Sound Designer:
Philip Pinsky

Stunt Co-ordinator:
Jonothan Campbell

Company Stage Manager:
Shona Wright

Technical Manager:
Paul Claydon

General Manager:
Claire Robb

Set Design & Build:
Allan Ross

Costume Designer:
Alice Bee

Lighting Designer:
George Tarbuck

Graphic Designer:
Emma Quinn

Print Photographer:
Douglas Jones

This tour was dedicated to our memory of Linford Cazenove and David L. Crewe.

View Our Programme

To read more information about the show, including the Director’s Note and team biographies, have a look through our production programme.

Download our programme pdf here

Supporters

The production was kindly supported by the following…

Decky Does a Bronco was supported by Cork Festival Fringe, Belfast Festival at Queens, Draíocht Arts Centre, Dublin and The Almeida Theatre, London.

Past Productions

The productions are listed in chronological order with the most recent first.

If you want to know more about our work or just want to get in touch to say hi!
You can reach us by clicking here.

Decky Does a Bronco

AWARDS

What The Press Said

Cast (2000)

Production Team (2000)

Cast (2001)

Production Team (2001)

Cast (2002)

Production Team (2002)

View Our Programme

Supporters

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