When a father's past life - one which he moved away from and deliberately tried to hide - comes back to haunt him and threaten to tear the family apart; how will his two young adult daughters take the news? And who exactly is Joanie? Playing out like a lost episode of 'Eastenders', this 80 minute play is full of those "dum dum dum" moments.
The acting from this four-strong cast is naturalistic honest and emotional. Leslie Davidoff plays the central character of Mac, who left a wife and son in London to start a new life up north. His descent into morose introvertedness was a little sudden perhaps, but given the constraints of the play, it was necessary. The same goes for Emily's reaction to this bombshell news. Played by Eve Phillips, Emily is the one-year-older-than-her-sister daughter, who whilst she tries to get her own life (which seems to be in pieces a little at the moment) back into some kind of order is living at home with her dad and looking after him after the death of her mother. Joanie - the best friend of Mac's first wife back in London knocks on the door one day, and this is the catalyst for a descending spiral of emotions. Melissa Roberts plays this role with obvious enjoyment, still playing the seductress despite her protestations otherwise. It takes the more sensible, younger, university student and religious daughter, Jessica (Emily Ward) to come and put the family back in order again as best she can.
The four performers worked excellently together, there was a good chemistry between them all, and their character arcs nicely paced. We never for one moment did not believe their characters or relationships, providing the audience with some truly tender and emotionally charged moments.
The set and acting area was very strange. A table with a couple of chairs (facing the audience) sufficed as the dining room, the kitchen (hidden behind some uncomely and out-of-place speakers) behind, whilst the living room (hardly used) was a single occasional chair and table - again staring directly out to the audience. However, behind all of this was a huge stage area which was completely unused, save for making too-long entrances and exits. This made for a stilted direction, and indeed the unnaturalness of the directing in general (Adam Cachia and Lauren Ellis-Stretch) made for some rather awkward and strange juxtapositional interchanges with the cast.
I am also uncertain why the play relied so heavily on food and drink. Was this an extended metaphor - i.e. Peter Greenaway-esque - and if so, did this all lead to Joanie putting butter on his cake in the final scene?
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
on - 22.5.25
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