Public Enemy

Scena Theatre presents Kenneth Branagh’s drama Public Enemy, starring acclaimed stage and screen actor Barry McEvoy.

Inspired by the 1931 Warner Brothers film “The Public Enemy” that launched the career of James Cagney, playing a gangster with a meteoric rise and fall.  Branagh’s 1987 play is re-set in Belfast during the political “troubles” of the 1980’s. The action takes place in a literal battle zone between rival factions of Catholic and Protestant paramilitaries.

Young Tommy Black is so good at imitating James Cagney that he wins a local talent contest. Next, he aims to clean up the neighborhood like Cagney’s gangster persona. Soon, the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur — and Tommy’s tough play-acting spirals rapidly into murder. But, Republican Andersonstown is no place to pump a man full of lead — and no place to hide from the gangsters hunting Tommy down.

Also Starring: Rena Cherry Brown (Helen Hayes winner), Daniel Kenner, Annie Grier, John C. Bailey, Ian Blackwell Rogers, Matt Dougherty & David Paglin.