A truly comic approach to both life and art, this is a circus of flamboyant colours and theatre styles. An innocent British soldier is taken into a bawdy Irish bar by the IRA as a hostage, to be shot if the British go through with the execution of an IRA youth. He has a romance with the barmaid. She and several habitués try unsuccessfully to arrange his escape. He is shot in the attempt – but not for long. Right in the middle of his own requiem he rises to sing a final rousing song.
