Sisters: A knowing portrayal of sibling rivalry in the middle of Middle Ireland

SISTERS

Cork Arts Theatre

★★★☆☆

In naming his Sisters characters Martha and Mary, the playwright Declan Hassett surely must have intended to evoke the biblical account of female sibling rivalry. First presented in 2005 as a single monologue (and again in 2011 in the same form), this production takes a new approach by splitting the script and upending Luke 10:38-42 by giving Martha most of the best lines.

As a result Catherine Mahon Buckley invests the acquired sophistication of Mary with unrelenting authority in a balanced counterpoint to Fionula Linehan’s Martha, whose gift for derision would have knocked her visitor off his stool in Bethany. Hassett’s pair of sisters grew up in the middle of Middle Ireland, where their competition for the attention and the love of their mismatched parents left a shared legacy of envy, hatred and revenge.

Written with a knowing hand, and directed by Patrick Talbot, the play offers the individual reminiscences of Martha and Mary in contrasting tones. The apparent simplicity of Linehan’s Martha, a shop assistant considered dispensable until she becomes indispensable, disguises her withering assessments of neighbours and betters. Lonely and belittled after the death of her adored father, she warms her life of wistful and wishful memories with an enjoyment of local ironies until Mary, a retired schoolteacher, arrives to set her straight.

Both actors have an acute ear for the catching phrase: Mary remembers a mother so devout that she still prayed for Mary, Queen of Scots; Martha describes a priest’s unvaried morning as a boiled egg, a read of the paper and walking the greyhound. The laughter is invited, but the portents of darkness to come are anticipated by pantomimic murmurs, moans, sighs, whispers and untimely applause from an enthusiastic audience whose engagement both compliments and disrupts the elegantly meticulous performances.