Private Peaceful - theatre review

“Tonight, more than any other night, I want to feel alive.”

These are the thoughts that are going through our character Tommo’s mind as he cradles his watch to his ear, listening to the comforting sound of the ticking.

The watch is a gift from his beloved brother and Tommo keeps checking to see if the watch is still working.

It is.

Time is still ticking along.

And time is clearly very much the essence for Tommo and a recurring theme in this play.

In fact, Tommo begins to reflect on times gone by – especially memories of childhood fun with his brother Charlie and local friend Molly.

We begin to read between the lines and we realise that Tommo had a crush on Molly. We smile when Tommo recalls the first time they all went skinny dipping and the first time he glimpsed a female’s naked body. And then we realise, sooner than Tommo did, that Molly and Charlie were in love with each other all along and poor ol’ Tommo was the go-between – acting as courier of love letters between the two.

Tommo is played by Odhran McNulty and for the entire 80 minutes of the play, Odhran has no props and no fellow actors – yet he plays 22 characters, a wide range of accents and numerous scenes. His skill and talent is hugely admirable. His many accents brought a smile to my face and were a joy to watch. With no props (except for a few small stools), his energy was unstoppable as he used every inch of the stage and every permutation of movement to transform himself through a myriad of scenes. It really was an impressive feat.

I began to notice that the same familiar trademark of Pintsized Productions was apparent with this piece too – Nuala Donnelly’s precise direction – her ability to use one actor, no props and yet vividly depict a number of scenes and characters is remarkable. And a vivid depiction it most certainly was. We quickly forgot that there was only one man on a stage. We were immersed in the world of Tommo. Does Molly realise that he’s actually in love with her? Will Molly and Tommo be reunited?

We watch as Charlie and Tommo get pushed into signing up for the war. We watch the triumphant leader putting pressure on young men to act for their country. We watch the old lady taunting Tommo and asking him if he’s too much of a ‘coward’. We watch these scenes unfold and forget that there’s only one man playing all of them – McNulty's ability to portray many characters allows us to immerse ourselves in the story.

We learn that Charlie and Molly name their baby after Tommo and it warms our hearts. We hear how Molly longs for baby Tommo to meet his dad and uncle after the war and we hope they will all be reunited. And we are catapulted into Tommo’s world when he’s lying in the middle of the trenches, dodging death. We are transported into that scene, seeing him crouching down next to his injured brother, refusing to leave him. We’re behind him 100% when he disobeys orders – orders that tell him to leave his brother behind. And we’re there with him facing the consequences and feeling the injustice of his young years.

“Tonight, I want very much to believe that there’s a heaven, that death is not a full stop, and that we will all see one another again.”

And then the lights go up, and we have tears in our eyes, and we’re transported back to the present. This is just one man on a stage. But for 80 minutes, we were in Tommo’s world, immersed in his life, immersed in the people that surrounded him, immersed in his realisation that time is so very precious and tonight, more than any other night, we should remember to feel alive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Private Peaceful was performed by Odhran McNulty and directed by Nuala Donnelly. 

Written by Michael Morpurgo and adapted by Simon Reade. 

Pintsized Productions website: Pintsized

The Painted Lady - by Rob Hollway

Who is the Painted Lady?

Is it the woman who is strewn across the stage the minute we arrive into the auditorium?

Thirty minutes before the play even starts, she is lying, face down, her short dress exposing her bare legs. A pair of high heels tossed to one side hints at a night of drunken chaos.

But this isn’t some stranger’s bed she has woken up on, she is lying in a field, in the midst of thorny thistles.

She awakes from her stupor, confused and wondering how she got there. Her head is thumping. She scrambles around in a panic looking for her bag, her phone, her purse – are they there?

With relief, she realises she does still have them – but not before she clutches her stomach and heaves, throwing up into the grass.

This is the subject that is tackled with such honesty in this play – the subject of alcoholism and addiction.

Kimberley not only has the dreaded hungover and no idea where she is, but has awoken to the face of a none-too-happy Dan who wants her off his private property.

I’m imagining that this is going to be some sort of romantic connection, but actually it goes a lot deeper than that. Dan, a self-confessed hermit and the hungover chaotic Kimberley seem to have been placed in each other’s paths for a reason.

What unravels throughout this 90 minute play (which seemed to zip by in no time) is the gradual disclosure of each other’s secrets. Each of them have buried hurts; each of them have hidden fears and slowly they begin to realise they have more in common than once thought.

But a tension and conflict keeps the play moving as these strangers are able to confront each other in ways that perhaps a family member couldn’t. He challenges her abusive relationship and she challenges his festering self-pity.

Whilst the subject matter could seem heavy and a drudge, this play is anything but. It is scattered with plenty of humour along the way, which had the audience laughing aloud.

The painted lady – which is actually a reference to a butterfly, was captured so beautifully in a scene that used lights and visual imagery to capture a magical feeling.

There were moments of poetic lyrical language, and there were also moments of heartfelt emotion. When Dan described, in a raised voice, of his struggle with the alcohol, it felt like he was really talking from the heart.

The final scene left a tear in my eye as I realised that these two lost souls, who had crossed each other paths for whatever reason – synchronicity or a guardian angel – were finally opening up to each other in a way that could lead to healing and contentment.

~~~~~

“The Painted Lady” was written by Rob Hollway, performed by Rob Hollway & Debra Hill and directed by Rachel Coffey. It was performed in Accidental Theatre, Belfast on 4, 5 & 6 April 2019.

Who's Looking at you? ~ by Colm G Doran

Having thoroughly enjoyed several productions directed by Colm and one dance piece which he wrote the background script for, I was keen to go and see his latest piece of writing.

“Who’s Looking at You?” was performed in the Crush Bar at The MAC, Belfast.

The same trademark headphones from previous shows “Three Stories”, “Date Show” and “Date Show: After Dark” are being used, but this time, just one colour of headphone, meaning that the audience would all be listening to the same script throughout the production, rather than several stories going on at once.

We are seated in the bar, headphones on, awaiting the entrance from the actor(s).  A bar maid strolls by, pushing a bar trolley in front of her. I wonder if she is part of the performance. (She isn’t!) Then a woman appears, glammed up in her little black dress and red lipstick. Through my headphones, I can hear her thoughts. Here is our actress.

She sits at a bar table. A bottle of wine is resting in a wine cooler. Two empty glasses await the appearance of her and her date. We hear a beeping noise. She checks her phone. In her head she’s reading out his text. About the date, he can’t make it. His child is sick and vomiting, he will have to take a rain check.

Disappointed, she looks around her uncomfortably. She had already poured herself a glass of wine and now she is drinking alone.

Punters attending the MAC – possibly to see the ‘Oliver!’ in the main auditorium, or to dander around the art gallery, can’t help but look over at the woman drinking alone in the Crush bar. Albeit, they are probably noticing the string of blue headphone-wearing people watching her, but their curiosity adds to the authenticity. She is self-conscious, she is drinking alone. Who is looking at her?

I begin to realise that this performance will take the form of listening to our actor’s inner-most thoughts. Having not been out of the house for weeks, she decides to drink on. One glass, two glasses, three glasses, four. Within the space of her drinking, we listen to her reminiscing about the past, remembering childhood memories, recalling the moment she met her husband.

My attention starts to move around the bar – noticing the people coming and going, noticing the other people who are watching this piece also, wondering if the wine inside the glass is real or watered down Ribena. I begin to think how hard it must be to act this piece – when she can’t get up and stride around – when all she has to work with is facial movements.

And then something happens. Then the memories suddenly go to the death of the husband – only 8 weeks prior. And furthermore, we hear of what the husband was really like – abusive; one punch after the other. We are thrown into a memory where she is lying on the carpet trying to count the patterns on the carpet just to distract herself from the thump-thump-thump.

Tears spring to my eyes. That is the strength of this writing. That amidst the distraction of punters passing to and fro, despite the fact the actress can only work with facial movements, the writing is so powerful that it catapults us into another place which can stir so much emotion.

And somehow, somehow there happens to be comedy in the midst of this. The friend on the phone whose complaining about ‘the b*tch in the Jeep behind her, up her backside’ and the text from the vomit guy promising to stand downwind so she won’t experience the bad smell. And there are heart-warming moments too – the smile on her face when she realises the new guy is outside waiting for her; the possibility of new beginnings and moving on and potential happiness.

Bravo to Colm Doran on another fabulous production. I look forward to seeing more writing from this author! 

Who’s Looking At You? ~ Written by Colm G Doran

Performed on Sat 19 January 2019 – 3.30pm in the Crush Bar, The MAC

Presented by Prime Cut Productions as part of the ‘Revealed’ series