The Passing/The East Pier

Abbey Theatre, Dublin The Passing Previews Mar 11-15 Opens Mar 16 , 24–30, Apr 2, 7–9, 14-16; The East Pier Previews Mar 18-22 Opens Mar 23, 26, 31, Apr 1–6, 9–13, 16 €13-€38 01-8787222 abbeytheatre.ie

Paul Mercier’s two new plays, performed in repertory for the Abbey, have something in common: the ache of nostalgia, the impossibility of returning home. But, though they share a blueprint, they are independent structures: semi-detached, in other words.

If The Passing, doesn't represent a major development, it is because Mercier has used Dublin houses to whisper stories of generations before. Here, a family home retains its sentimental value on the collapsed Dublin property market, as siblings wrestle over its future while histories spool around them. Relationships reach the same dilemma: to stay put or move on?

Something similar happens to the former lovers (Andrea Irvine and Don Wycherley) reunited by chance in the more affecting two-hander, The East Pier. The play's set-up might sound trite: a communications businessman ("I connect people") and a management consultant ("We regenerate what's already there") rake over the embers of their passion. But Mercier is more interested in memory than schmaltz, using competing and complementing versions of the past to create a world that – no less than memories or feelings – seems torn between change and permanence.

It’s a productive tension for any new writing, as Mercier recognises with gentle reference to Greek and Russian classics: you can’t leave it all behind, but you can’t go back there either.

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