Bread & Roses Theatre. Reviewed by Claire Roderick
3***
Merde! Theatre Company’s The Plains of Delight delves deep into the absurd to tell a story that could have sprung from the imagination of the lovechild of Beckett and O Henry.
Mac (Gary Cain) and Mona (Laura Perry) sit on the same bench every day. The pair are surrounded by rubbish, and the noise of the wind never stops. She reminisces about their past in Ireland as he describes an idyllic life in the South American mountains to his blind wife. Writer Colm Molloy gives Mona’s words a poetically nostalgic melancholy in stark contrast to Mac’s almost monosyllabic responses. Only when describing South America does his language develop, but his tone betrays the emptiness of his words and his despair as he keeps his wife’s dreams alive. The repetitiveness and pointlessness of their life is stressed as they sit, but neither seem willing or able to change. So far, so Waiting for Godot, with beautifully still and measured performances from the pair.
The winds of change really begin to howl when Alfie (Bex Sian-Jane Evans) and Jarry (Arsentiy Novak) burst onto the scene as these bizarre and threatening characters cajole and bully Mac into conversation as Mona sits sleeping. As Mac is swept along by their brutal energy, the truth about his circumstances is revealed, and he somehow enters into a bargain that will change his life. Evans is (quite rightly) completely over the top with her portrayal of the unhinged Alfie and Novak’s Jarry is weirdly sweet but repellent, in a surreal take on PTSD after their wanderings in the wasteland.
Writer/director Colm Molloy has created an interesting piece, with the jarring language of Alfie in stark contrast to Mona’s passages of lyricism. The crucial scene where Novak gets his chance to shine is well done, but is just a little too long. I know the lines were “The words keep pouring out till eternity”, but it did begin to feel like that’s what we were set for. Just a few less repeats and the audience wouldn’t lose interest. Of course, that could be just what Molloy was aiming for, to hint at Alfie and Jarry’s future and the possible effect his constant stream of words could have on their relationship, but for me a trim would help the flow of the narrative.
The Plains of Delight is a brave debut for Molloy and Merde Theatre, and is well worth a look. A company to keep an eye on in the future.