'One Good Night', from the pen of local up-coming writer Aisling Caffrey, tells the story of a 29-year old lady who leaves her long-term boyfriend to stay with a friend, after a night of misunderstood and nonconsensual sex with him.
The story is told from three differing points of view, - her own, her boyfriend's and that of the friend and neighbour (the onlookers) - however, the greatest emphasis by far is placed on her own feelings and perspective. Running for 70 minutes through without interval, there seems to be a lot to pack into such a tight time-frame, and yet, many themes which arise from this situation, including her witnessing her best friend and ex-boyfriend kiss and cuddle, are left unexplored.
The audience are given to understand that the young lady's story is truthful, and that she was effectively raped after she had slipped in the shower and lay prostrate on the bathroom floor, and therefore our sympathies are, right from the start, geared in her favour. I sat there however, a little like a police officer or a judge may well have listened to the case, and, particularly after watching Pete's (Oliver Devoti) pathetic apology and obvious devotion, was torn between whether or not the girl's reaction to his 'love-making' was too much. After all, she obviously loved kinky sex, and simply couldn't get enough, even after leaving him, she went in search of various one-night stands. Strangely, the audience only truly start to believe her story at the same time as her friend, May (Misha Duncan-Barry). In this regard, the play does not explore the themes deeply enough and leaves too many question marks.
It is undeniably true that some men are manipulative, conniving, and controlling of their girlfriends / wives, and do treat them as objects for their own pleasure, sometimes not understanding that 'no' really does mean 'no'. And certainly Pete's first entrance, shouting from outside the house at night-time, does nothing to allay this, but as the play progresses we do get a very female insight into his personality.
Sammy Winward plays Amelia, the protagonist, who teeters between near insanity and utter lethargy; spending a lot of time in bed, or bitching with May and their gossipy next-door neighbour Julie (Susan McArdle), who managed to bring a deal of needed light relief into the play without it becoming comedic.
I found the set rather awkward. Set in a thrust formation (which didn't really work, as little of the direction ever considered the audience on the two much shallower sides), the majority of the stage was given over to a large bed, around which was strewn every-day detritus such as crisp packets, drink cartons, glasses, tissues etc, whilst a small occasional table near the bed was full of post-it notes. Behind this was the exterior of the two terrace houses, the front doors, wall (with ivy), and garden furniture. I think this premise might have worked better if the cast had had a more definitive way of making entances and exits in and out of these spaces, but since they sometimes walked through the front door directly to the bedroom, and other times came from behind the audience, it was very hard to understand exactly where they were going from and to. The lighting didn't really help much in this regard either sadly; and each small scene was succeeded with a far-too-sudden blackout, cutting in on the end of the dialogue or moment too quickly. In fact, the whole play was a series of short scenelets, and because of this became a little disjointed and lost its chronology and impetus.
Please don't misunderstand me; I am not trying to downplay the seriousness of such a happenstance, nor the marks something like this can leave you with; it is just that I didn't engage with this play in a way that I thought I ought to have done and it didn't seem to be as powerful a vehicle to bring these themes to light as perhaps it ought to have been. Even the couple of possible 'false endings' to the play would have made it a stronger piece, rather than the actual ending... a seeming 'feel-good' compromise about empowerment and moving-on.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 26/2/20
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