SMILIN' THROUGH till 14 May

SMILIN' THROUGH: Billy Cowan
Birmingham Rep (The Door): 15 30 April
Contact, Manchester: 5 14 May
Runs: 2h 30m, one interval
Review: Rod Dungate, 19 April 2005

Serious, witty, schizophrenicAt the centre of Cowan's play stand an Irish mother and son embittered Peggy, standing up for her rights as an ever more hard done-by Protestant and Kyle fighting for his rights as a young gay man. Cleverly, Cowan has the son barricade himself into his bedroom on hunger strike trying to force some sense into his homophobic mother's head . . . the parallel is obvious and powerful.

We see where Cowan is coming from; 'the Troubles have dominated everyone's lives for so long . . . Even artists have been affected . . .' he says, explaining the dearth of gay writing in Ireland. As mother and son battle it out we cannot avoid the notion that they are two chips from one block.

Cowan's play is lively, vigorous, witty and his debate important. However, I left the theatre unconvinced. The reason? Cowan's two central characters produce a schizophrenic feel to the evening. You feel the play should be Kyle's journey; our heart tells us we want to follow the love story between him and Catholic Donal, follow Kyle's coming out. But our head cannot resists the powerful pull of Peggy's domineering presence. And, despite Gillian Hanna's generous performance, Peggy is such a monster that we end up not caring too much about the story's end.

Marty Rea gives a spirited performance as young Kyle; his late scene with his father (Walter McMonagle) is just lovely two characters making real contact saying simple things that are hard to say. I'm not really convinced about the usefulness of Peggy's fantasy scenes with Nelson Eddy (Allison Harding); N Eddy seems little more than a device to enable Peggy to work things through and the scenes frequently teeter on the sententious.

The play would have gained had director Natalie Wilson explored greater dynamic range. A serious and funny first play though, I look forward to the next.

Peggy: Gillian Hanna
Kyle: Marty Rea
Willy/ Cardinal Dainty: Walter McMonagle
Donal: Terence Corrigan
Officer Kildare/ Jim Robinson/ Rev Macmillan: Sean Kearns
Nelson Eddy: Allison Harding

Director: Natalie Wilson
Designer: Emma Donavan
Lighting Designer: Emma Chapman
Sound Designer: Dan Steele
Musical Director: Peter England

2005-04-21 15:09:15