Peter Viney's Blog

By Conor McPherson

Directed by Conor McPherson
Set & costume by Rae Smith

Old Vic Theatre, London
10th April to 14th June 2025

NT At Home Streaming

CAST

Rosie Sheehy- Billie
Chris O’Dowd – Dermot
Brian Gleeson – Stephen
Hannah Morrish- Lydia
Sean McGinley- Father Pierre
Derbhie Crotty- Elizabeth
Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty- Brendan
Aisling Kearns- Freya

NT At Home means I’ll try hard not to plot spoil. Anyone in the UK can get a subscription, or just pay per view.

It couldn’t be more stereotypically an Irish play. I’d even say clichéd. It’s set in County Sligo in rural North West Ireland in the 1980s (reviews say 1981, which might be in the programme), so just before the roads became clogged with farmers’ Range Rovers and there was still an air of downtrodden poverty. The play’s title comes from Yeats (Song of Wandering Aengus) and Sligo is known as ‘Yeats country.’

It has echoes of Brian Friel, especially Dancing At Lughnasa (a returning disgraced priest), of McPherson’s own The Weir, and more his adaptation of Uncle Vanya (family feud over inheritance), then of Martin McDonagh and J.M. Synge. Uncle Vanya succumbed to Covid shutdown, but then got a bluray / DVD release. McPherson has said he had unfinished business with the theme, and the mood emerges in this play.

It focuses on the run-down family home, now inhabited by Stephen (Brian Gleeson) and his younger sister, Billie (Rosie Sheehy). They farm cows and chickens. This is another Irish play given. A bachelor and a spinster. Unmarried. Out there in deep country there isn’t a lot of possibility of meeting anyone you’re not related to.

The set is pretty minimal, an upright piano, a trestle table, rehearsal room chairs. The dirty net curtained window is stored in theatrical suppliers as “Irish plays + The Caretaker.” There is projection which takes over at the start of the second half, but other reviews suggest it’s used throughout. If so, the camera largely lost it.

Lighting veers to gloomy. Billie is the central character, and Rosie Sheehy, one of our favourite actors, was almost unrecognisable after seeing her as the young Julie in Romeo & Julie at the National a couple of years ago. Billie is accident prone, but also holds forth philosophically on train journeys and reincarnation. The Guardian review describes her as eccentric and autistic, the second word being bandied around far too often nowadays. Her brother Dermot (Chris O’Dowd) says later that she’s not normal, and she takes severe umbrage, so Dermot redefines it as ‘well, not normal normal.’

So there are three siblings (Dermot, Stephen, Billie) with shares of the house. Dermot has his own house and owns cafes. The play opens with Lydia and Billie, and Lydia (Hannah Morrish) is Dermot’s wife. Dermot is a bit of a playboy of the Western World philanderer, putting it about a bit, currently with Freya (Aisling Kearns) who works in his cafe and is in her twenties, well twenty, well nearly twenty.

Chris O’Dowd as Dermot, Aisling Kearns as Freya

We need a legend / superstition / magic part to maintain the Irish feel. Lydia wants to regain Dermot’s love, with water from a foxes’ well, and she wants Stephen to get it for her. If she can get Titania Dermot to drink it, he will fall in love with the first person he sees when he wakes up. (Where would that come from?) There is backstory in the use of this magic water that will emerge.

Sean McGinley as Father Pierre, Derbie Crotty as Elizabeth

The complication is the visit of their uncle, Father Pierre (Sean McGinley) with his housekeeper, Elizabeth (Derbhie Crotty). In a subplot, Eliuzabeth has previous with Stephen. Pierre is blind and has come to outrageous conclusions that God is the devil, and suggests he himself is the start of a good “God.” This is why he is no longer allowed to administer rites and has been retired. There will be a miracle.

The devious Dermot sees this as an opportunity to take control of the property and get rid of his his brother and sister. O’Dowd’s Dermot is a towering and frenetic comic performance, a masterpiece of effing and blinding, and any fan of The IT Crowd will know why McPherson could not resists ending up with O’Dowd in a wheelchair, reminding us of his greatest TV sitcom moment.

A further sublot involves Bendan (Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty) who helps them with the cows and never gets paid. That involves a Billie / Brendan / Freya triangle, but I’m not plot spoiling. Brendan is a great comic creation by Doherty.

Billie bookends the play. Rosie Sheehy is a great actor, and having seen her several times it’s a major feat of acting and make-up for Billie not to look attractive. Every review singles out her performance.

She finishes Act One with a solo song, accompanying herself on the piano. As you expect from the writer of Girl From The North Country, music features well throughout. I wish it was credited on the rolling credits. The ending goes for the serious comment. Throughout dialogue sparkles, and there is not a single appearance of ‘craic’ in the text which is rare in an Irish play. It’s very good. The ambience of the proscenium stage, dark lighting and shabby set fit the play.

****

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

I will take issue with “The Finest Play of The Year” a judgement made in April with eight months to go. “So far” might have been added. I still wouldn’t agree.

Five Star
Fiona Mountford, The i *****
Itish Times *****
Morning Star *****

Four star
The Telegraph ****
Nick Curtis, The Standard ****
Sarah Hemming, Financial Times ****
Dave Fargnoli, The Stage ****
Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out ****

Three star
Arifa Akbar, Guardian ***
An incredibly strong cast is gathered: O’Dowd is a delight as the family’s self-regarding eldest brother and Sheehy, as always, is a standout force. She plays a largely comic character but infuses Billie with great emotion
Dominic Maxwell, The Times ***
Alice Saville, The Independent ***
Sarah Crompton, What’s On Stage ***
“Sheehy is utterly devastating. Her resilience owes something to Sonia in Uncle Vanya, but Sheehy adds a layer of vulnerability that is completely compelling.“

LINKS ON THIS BLOG

CONOR McPHERSON

Uncle Vanya, Chekhov (adaptor) Harold Pinter Theatre, on Blu-ray 2021
Girl From The North Country, Old Vic 2017
The Weir, English Touring Theatre, Poole 2017

ROSIE SHEEHY
Romeo & Julie, by Gary Owen, National Theatre 2023 (Julie)
All’s Well That Ends Well, RSC2022 (Helena)
Richard III, RSC 2022 (Lady Anne)
King John, RSC 2019 (King John)
The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter, Ustinov Bath 2018
Strife by John Galsworthy, Chichester 2016

CHRIS O’DOWD
How To Build A Girl (film)
Bridesmaids (film)

HANNAH MORRISH
Coriolanus, RSC 2017
Titus Andronicus, RSC 2017
Julius Caesar, RSC 2017