First Performance: Octagon Theatre, Bolton on 17 January 2002 (Royal National Theatre/Out of Joint co-production, directed by Max Stafford-Clark)
Irish Premiere: Abbey Theatre, Dublin: 30 January 2002
London Premiere: Royal National Theatre (The Dorfman Theatre (formerly the Cottesloe Theatre)), London: 28 February 2002
Length: Full length; 2 acts; 78 pages

Barry continues his exploration of Irish history via the life of the people of Ireland with his 2002 play "Hinterland". However, unlike the previous two (The Steward of Christendom and Our Lady of Sligo), he does not look back at his own family history for inspiration but introduces us to Johnny Silvester, a fictional ex-prime minister of Ireland who is trying to hold his sanity and enjoy the zenith of his life. If you know any Irish history or if you had paid attention at the news around the start of the century, you will know the name Charles Haughey - the ex-prime minister/Taoiseach of Ireland who got tangled into tribunals and accusations of misappropriation of funds in his later years and you will recognize him as the fictional Johnny Silvester. By not using the actual politician, Barry picks which parts of his life to match - the wife being the daughter of a politician remains (because it is important for his development) but just one of his children shows up in the play; Brian Lenihan is there albeit under a different name and so is his long running affair.

But you do not need to know any of the backstory and the real history to enjoy the play - I checked it after I read the play because I was curious. When we meet Johnny, it is 2000 and he is trying to enjoy his retirement. Except that noone seems to be very interested in what he wants to enjoy - a tribunal to look at his misappropriation of funds is due to start soon, his ex-lover is still upset for him dumping her after a few decades of an affair, his wife is really fed up with him, the ghost of an ex-collaborator who Johnny screwed up keep showing up and his son is struggling with mental health issues. To top it all, he is waiting for a call from his doctor who found something he did not like. Add a butler who cannot hide his disdain for his bosses and a student who shows up with questions about the past and gets more than she bargained for and things don't really go as Johnny expect.

The play itself explores some of the topics Barry had been exploring earlier - mental health, Irish history, family. But unlike some of the previous ones, this one feels less personal - we spend most of the time in Johnny's head and he is a lot less compelling character that Mai O'Hara, Annie or Eneas are. Just like Thomas Dunne in "The Steward of Christendom", Johnny is part of the establishment (in a different way) but unlike Thomas, he is a willing participant and has a totally broken moral compass, without the excuse of a mental disease. And that's what makes him so very different from every other Barry character before him - even when they made a terrible choice or behaved badly, they were mostly good people. Johnny Silvester is not and believes that the world owes him.

As a play based on the life of a real man, the play works. It does not completely work as part of the tapestry of Ireland that Barry had been weaving but then it does not need to. Although, it can be considered just another part of it - it is part of Ireland and not everyone on the country was always decent.

The play came out 4 years before the final reports about the excesses of Charles Haughey came out, confirming most of the rumors. Reading about the real politician makes me feel like the play is too soft, too forgiving in places. But then it does its job in showing that people can be complicated. ( )