In conversation with Joe O'Byrne, Writer and Director of Rank: A Tale from Paradise Heights

We spoke to Joe O'Byrne, Writer and Director of Rank: A Tale From Paradise Heights, ahead of their upcoming show at the Pavilion Arts Centre.

How would you describe the atmosphere of Paradise Heights? 

In one word? Haunted.

There are times where the town feels suspended between reality and myth. Like most fishing communities, it has secrets, tragedies, great storms, and lost souls whose ghostly cries are carried on the bitter, salty wind. But it is also grounded with real people and real problems, actions good or bad all have consequences. A boycott on Lisa MacGeehan's business ordered by gangsters is stopping the few taxi drivers she has left, and customers are too scared to order a taxi from her fear of repercussions from the criminal community. We meet her in Rank under enormous pressure, and her life is in real danger...

What kind of journey is the audience in for in Rank?

Rank is going to take the audience on a white knuckle ride on the night of Halloween in Paradise Heights. The storm of the century is battering the town, strange voices are coming through the radios. It's a journey into the dark night as a taxi rank owner finds herself battling the elements, and competing with supernatural entities. But it all ties into something that took place that same week 20 years ago.

Can you tell us more about the characters?

The story is propelled by the journeys of sister and brother Lisa and Corny MacGeehan. Lisa took over her father's taxi business around 20 years ago. She's seen the seaside town crumbling down over the years, and the rise of organised crime in the area. She is estranged from her brother, and there is bad blood between them.

Corny is an ex-boxer, now struggling with Parkinson's disease and his mental health has deteriorated. Despite all of this, he uses his own dark humour to get himself through the days and nights. He has a long-lasting grudge with Lisa, but deep down is worried about her.

Lisa's taxi drivers are struggling to get by after the town boycotted her business, and dangerous criminals are out to get her.

The Paradise Heights series has an underlying supernatural theme; how did you go about weaving this into the fabric of the script when writing Rank?

Ghost stories, banshees, and supernatural folklore have always fascinated me since childhood. Indeed, Lisa tells a story from her past born from an experience I had as a child. Paradise Heights is rich in folklore, where beauty and decay exist side by side. A battered coastal fishing town wrapped in sea mist and secrets, it feels suspended somewhere between reality and folklore.

The thread of the supernatural is strong in all the stories I tell. I wanted to make Paradise Heights a town with its own folklore stretching back hundreds of years. The streets are populated by damaged dreamers, hustlers, lost souls, and survivors - people clinging to humour and community in a town slowly being swallowed by hardship, crime, and myth. Life in Paradise Heights is hard, but it is never without poetry. Even at its darkest, there is warmth, wit, and humanity.

Do I need to have seen the other plays in the series to enjoy this one?

Definitely not. They are all written as separate complete stories of their own, but they intertwine through the characters, locations, and events from the past and present. You can jump onboard with any of the stories, watch them in any order. I want to appeal to new audiences along with the established fandom of the series. They have a real army of fans now all over the UK.

What type of theatre-goer will find themselves most gripped by this story?

That's hard to answer. They are working class stories, addressing mature and difficult societal issues that affect everyday life. But at the same time, they are supernatural stories. They have a very broad appeal across all age groups from 18-90, and people can relate to the characters. They are all ordinary people but living in extraordinary times - like we all are now with the world today. It is their actions, how they deal with it that creates an empathy. But all actions have consequences. How do they deal with those? That's where the drama is.

If you had to distil the essence of Rank into just three words, what would they be?

Compelling. Stormy. Haunted.