Wife to James Wheelan by Teresa Deevy, Jermyn Street Theatre 16b Jermyn Street, London SW1 | until 25 July 2026 ⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell
Photo credit: Alex Brenner
Wife to James Wheelan
by Teresa Deevy
Jermyn Street Theatre 16b Jermyn Street, London SW1 | until 25 July 2026
⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell
“Forgotten play unforgettably resuscitated.”
The Irish playwright Teresa Deevy was prolific in her day, mostly on radio, and this 1942 play rejected by the Abbey was last seen here in 2004 at the New Diorama. It is well performed by an all-Irish cast directed by Jonathan Bank who is intent on reviving her reputation. It is not a great play but is consistently interesting about the plight of the women who might be the wife Wheelan needs and survives a dreadful first act set which could be anywhere but actually is nowhere, just a collection of fake stone walls and sone abandoned corrugated iron meant to conjure up rural Ireland sometime in the 1930s. The transformation to Wheelan's office for acts two and three is nicely done but also remains fake with a floor patently the alleged green grass of Act One. Just what designer Neil Irish was up to is between him and Mr Bank. But the play's the thing. James Wheelan works on a farm and is intent on heading to Dublin to make his fortune leaving behind Nan, the young woman he should propose to but is too intent on himself to get round to doing so. Then there is Kate, the friendly girl who also would like to become Mrs Wheelan. Add several rustics for comic effect and one is left wondering just where the thing is heading. However, in Act Two we are in Wheelan's office. Some years later He has returned to his hometown a successful businessman intent on running a bus service called Silver Wings, but as pig-headed as ever. Kate is still around, still friendly, still suppressing her desires, while Nan, now a destitute widow with a child, comes seeking a job which he offers her. Left alone in his office she steals some money from the open cash box, and he charges her with theft, which means she gets sent to prison. The rustic characters are still there with the addition of a young employee called Apollo Moran; a part David Rawle brings to full comic life. There is also a new would-be wife in the daughter of the man Wheelan once worked for. Now grown up she looks at this hunky guy and sets out to get him while poverty-stricken Nan, now out of prison and once again given a job by him scrubs away in a terribly smart black chiffon shaw knowing that she is not going to be the wife. Whether Wheelan is worth getting remains an open question, but Fiach Kunz creates this monster male perfectly. Deevy had things to say about the plight of women in Irish society at the time and this revival is well worth catching but it is no forgotten masterwork. Bank's Deevy Project to rescue her work has more to do. The cast, however, save the day.
Cast
Darragh Feehely – Bill McGafferty
Cliona Flynn – Nan Bowers
Eavan Gaffney – Kate Moran
Molly Hanly – Nora Keane
Fiach Kunz – James Wheelan
Patrick McBrearty – Tom Carey
David Rawle – Apollo Moran
Benjamin Reilly – Jack McClinsey
Creatives
Director – Jonathan Bank
Set Designer – Neil Irish
Costume Designer – Anet Black
Lighting Designer – Chris McDonnell
Sound Designer & Original Music – Jane Shaw
Fight Director – Enric Ortuno
