TAKE ME AWAY. To 5 March.
London
TAKE ME AWAY
by Gerald Murphy
Bush Theatre To 5 March 2005
Mon-Sat 8pm
Runs 1hr 35min No interval
TICKETS: 020 7610 4224
www.bushtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 14 February
Rough Magic indeed the verbal knives are out when the family men get together.Rough Magic theatre company brought Gerald Murphy's play to the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe. Now it has a well-deserved London run, accommodated well at the Bush. It's a pity there's no British tour in sight; this is rough magic indeed, forceful and gripping.
And expertly put together. Since the dawn of drama the family's been the crucible for examining all manner of themes. Murphy's may not be the greatest in scope, but as he expertly lays bare the tensions between Eddie and his 3 sons, he exposes the illusions of Irish males, and the particular mix of sentiment, tradition and bluster they exploit to cover their fears and inadequacies and to manipulate each other.
These four lives are a tissue of lies. Not all are utterly secret, but those in the know haven't uttered a word while the polite conventions ruled. Now relationships are cracking it's time for truth to be voiced in increasing anger, knocking everyone's composure.
Though this is a long single act, the play has the satisfying feel a 3-act structure gives. Short opening scenes build the background to each character and the sense of frustration between these brothers, making the sustained interplay that follows dynamic and gripping. This is something Lynne Parker's direction fully understands, letting each character emerge in turn without the fourfold revelations ever seeming mechanistic.
Performances are finely judged to link each character's weakness and the problem they contribute to dirty-up security guard Bren's clean, if little-furnished house. That includes his own pent-up secret (a roll of toilet-paper, suggesting clean and dirty at once, becomes significant by the close), in line with Joe Hanley's tight-faced, accusing fury. It's the opposite of brother Anthony who arrives bloody, but otherwise all smiling, matey excuses.
Then there's Kev, plausibly the bright-flyer of the family but with a carelessness to his dress suggesting the nervous recklessness that emerges. And Vincent McCabe shows the weakness underlying their auld fella's use of a father's traditional authority. It's a blame-on-blame family, in a play that's caustic, witty and, in rooting human weaknesses to a sharp reality, shocking even in these days.
Bren: Joe Hanley
Anthony: Aidan Kelly
Kev: Barry Ward
Eddie: Vincent McCabe
Director: Lynne Parker
Designer: Alan Farquharson
Lighting: John Comiskey
Costume: Eimer Nu Mhaoldomhnaigh
2005-02-15 13:48:39