Tron Theatre, Glasgow
3 stars
“All animals know what’s coming,” says a character in Stuart Carolan’s George Devine Award winning play. “That’s why they run.” Set in an isolated cottage on Ireland’s border in 1986, and with the Troubles at their tensest peak, Carolan moves things beyond easy polemic to humanise things by way of a family at war, in the end with each other as much as the invading Brits they so despise. As young Danny and his big brother Thomas await the arrival of their father Joe and hired help Barney, even in a child’s game, it seems, betrayal to the cause is unthinkable.
The arrival of JJ from Belfast at Joe’s behest, however, suggests otherwise. As Carolan gradually unravels his unsentimental account of all too real skeletons in the closet, including a mother in an asylum following the death of another son, the full consequence of actions become paramount.
Receiving its UK premiere in Andy Arnold’s Tron Theatre Company production, the play’s context turns every-day dysfunction into something far more emotionally troubling. Yet, even with allusions to drowned mongrels in black plastic bags pointing the way in a play full of strong performances from Martin McCormick as Thomas and Lewis Howden as Joe, things never quite catch fire.
Only in the last third of the play, during a final confrontation between father and son, does it feel like matters of life and death are given any real dynamic weight. As Thomas curls up in a foetal ball during the play’s final moments, however, hindsight tells us the adventure he dreams of are destined to blow up in his face.
The Herald,February 12th 2009
ends
3 stars
“All animals know what’s coming,” says a character in Stuart Carolan’s George Devine Award winning play. “That’s why they run.” Set in an isolated cottage on Ireland’s border in 1986, and with the Troubles at their tensest peak, Carolan moves things beyond easy polemic to humanise things by way of a family at war, in the end with each other as much as the invading Brits they so despise. As young Danny and his big brother Thomas await the arrival of their father Joe and hired help Barney, even in a child’s game, it seems, betrayal to the cause is unthinkable.
The arrival of JJ from Belfast at Joe’s behest, however, suggests otherwise. As Carolan gradually unravels his unsentimental account of all too real skeletons in the closet, including a mother in an asylum following the death of another son, the full consequence of actions become paramount.
Receiving its UK premiere in Andy Arnold’s Tron Theatre Company production, the play’s context turns every-day dysfunction into something far more emotionally troubling. Yet, even with allusions to drowned mongrels in black plastic bags pointing the way in a play full of strong performances from Martin McCormick as Thomas and Lewis Howden as Joe, things never quite catch fire.
Only in the last third of the play, during a final confrontation between father and son, does it feel like matters of life and death are given any real dynamic weight. As Thomas curls up in a foetal ball during the play’s final moments, however, hindsight tells us the adventure he dreams of are destined to blow up in his face.
The Herald,February 12th 2009
ends
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