Òran Mór, Glasgow
Four stars
Coming up for air isn’t always easy for Michael and Pat, the cross generational duo at the heart of Séan O'Neil’s new play, the latest lunchtime offering at A Play, a Pie and a Pint. If Michael can hold his breath in a bucket of water, he’ll get into the Guinness Book of Records. As his coach, Pat can share in some of the glory. The people from Guinness, alas, are running late. While this doesn’t prevent Pat from necking down several cans of the black stuff, when Pat’s daughter Grainne shows up at the pool, it becomes clear that all concerned are drowning in a mire of grief from which they will never fully surface.
What begins as a comedy fused by Michael and Pat’s deadly exchanges in Fraser Scott’s production gradually morphs into a meditation on loss, guilt and the extremes one pushes oneself to in order to try and get beyond the absence. Michael and Pat’s pursuits may seem trivial, but at the heart of their endeavours they are only trying to breathe. Grainne too may be as lost as the missing pets she makes it her mission to find, but this too gives some kind of meaning to her efforts.
Set in Donegal, O’Neil’s play pitches its scenes of everyday absurdism by way of a series of arch one liners. The sheer ridiculousness of having Michael Dylan’s Michael kneeling with his head in a bucket while Alan McHugh’s Pat and Mimi Millmore’s Grainne bicker about cake, cats and impending anniversaries is a black humoured delight.
Played out on Gillian Argo’s dilapidated swimming pool set, the trio’s performances are pitch perfect as they teeter from sparring into more philosophical waters. This makes for one of the smartest, funniest and most fully rounded pieces of new writing around just now. Like Michael, Pat and Grainne’s assorted deep dives into coping methods, O’Neil’s quietly profound miniature is something of a lifesaver.
The Herald, April 16th 2026
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