The Rough Magic company, in association with the Belltable, has chosen as its new production a play by American Richard Greenberg. In its exploration of the unfathomable depths of human nature, and of the near-impossibility of true communication, it is reminiscent of the great Arthur Miller's work. Fashions notwithstanding, there is no greater praise than that.
It opens in a near-derelict loft in Manhattan, where Walker, a 30-ish man, lives. His architect father, Ned, died a year before, and he is back from aimless travel to hear the will, from which he has certain expectations. His married sister, Nan, joins him, and the tensions between them are palpable. They will meet later with childhood friend Pip, the son of their father's partner Theo who died relatively young.
Walker walks a psychological tightrope, and has found his father's cryptic journal which he interprets in various ways. He is disorientated by the terms of the will, and finds plausible explanations for them in the journal. The second act takes us back 35 years to the parents, and the lives that apparently lay before them. But nothing is what it seems, then or later. The chasms are unbridgeable.
It is a very emotional play in the best sense, reaching out for empathy and understanding, mixing laughter and sadness, and always reaching for difficult truths. The author has the gift of embellishing content with style, and his dialogue both shapes and distinguishes between his characters. His is a rare gift, here displayed to something near perfection.
Lynne Parker's direction finds all the values in this work, and guides her three actors safely through its emotional mazes. Darragh Kelly's Pip/Theo are major creations, and so are Anne Byrne's Nan/Lina. The pivotal roles of Walker/Ned are taken by Peter Hanly, who is simply mesmeric. A fine set design by Brien Vahey, with the audience seated in opposite, steeply banked rows, adds to the atmosphere of a gripping night of theatre.
Runs until November 11th, to book phone 061-319866; then tours to Town Hall Theatre, Galway, from November 14th-18th and Project, Dublin, from November 22nd - December 16th.