Man of Valour is the story of a man battling demons from his past, quite literally! Farrell Blinks is your average young man dealing with the normal problems of day to day life. He commutes in and out of work on the train, battling through the crowds and tramps on the streets before getting into work. The guy in the cubicle next to him at work is incredibly annoying, and spends his life kissing up to the boss. He has a crush on one of his co-workers but finds it impossible to even say hello to her as his voice fails him every time he’s in her company!

At night he returns home to his apartment and watches TV or plays computer games, battling his way through war zones. One night his neighbour drops in a docket from the post office for a package that he has to collect. This package is a link to his past and it brings to the fore the demons contained within all of us!

This is a one man show starring Paul Reid, who creates this world and the various characters that live in it. There are no props on the stage but lighting is used to make a variety of spaces as well as the use of video projection onto the back wall of the stage, which shows street scenes, passing cars and trains and a variety of other landscapes.

This is an ideal role for a performer to show the full range of their talents, and Reid enjoys the challenge, changing between street dwellers and business men in a blink of an eye, as well as little old women, Farrell’s co-workers and boss and anyone else he encounters on the streets of the unnamed city! Reid makes full use of his vocal talents and physical abilities to transform himself into these various characters. It is a hugely impressive role and you can see by the glow in his cheeks how physically draining and intense the performance is.

This play was originally performed as part of the Fringe festival in 2011, and has recently been touring the country. It runs until June 8th in the Project Arts centre, and is a well constructed piece performed with skill and grace, with plenty of laughs along the way.