The play, an original piece of writing by Ken McElroy, aims to sympathetically portray the literary brilliance of both Behan and Kavanagh, their humour, their music and also their sadness. It tries to explore their different childhoods, the streetwise Behan from inner city North Dublin and Kavanagh from the harsh infertile soil of County Monaghan. Childhoods that honed their respective talents as writers.

It allows Behan to be at his most outrageous and Kavanagh to be at his most vitriolic. And as in life the pint of stout is an essential prop on stage for both characters. Ken McElroy plays Patrick Kavanagh, the cantankerous yet brilliant Inniskeen poet, so recognizable in Dublin literary circles with his battered hat, spectacles and long trailing coat. With his caustic tongue and longing for love and recognition, he is a perfect foil to the outrageous and domineering Behan, played by Oliver Moore.

THE CAST

Ken McElroy - Patrick Kavanagh & Author
The plays author, Ken, hails from Gilford, Co. Down, in Northern Ireland. His love of writing and sense of theatre go back to his own school days in Banbridge Academy where he won the school's literary prize on two occasions and was a member of the schools highly regarded drama group. He has since had three successful anthologies of poetry published, as well as having written short stories for the BBC Radio programme 'A Way with Words'.
He was chosen to present and narrate the educational video 'When the Horns Still Blew', a history of the Irish Linen Industry and also played the part of Jemmy Hope in the documentary film about the 1798 Rebellion 'The Life and Times of Jemmy Hope'.

Oliver Moore - Brendan Behan
Like Behan, Oliver was born on the north side of Dublin but he left there and moved to Co. Down at just three months old. He has spent over thirty years in music, cabaret, acting and directing and has also studied Drama and Arts in the Community at Queens University, Belfast.