THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE
Two women fall victim to the same manipulative deviant... but it’s a shame we never get the meet him
One can have too much of a childless woman talking about her favourite topic for 100 minutes
Spotless Civic Tallaght and touring HHHHH
GaryDuggan’snew play is a female two-hander, conducted mostly in monologues, but there’s an important third character, a young man called Dean, voiced at intervals by the two women.
Jen (Emma Willis) whose mother has died from a drug overdose, is a Leaving Cert student working part-time in a supermarket, who’s keen to escape the grim flats where she lives.
Genevieve (Ciara O’Callaghan) in her forties, is obsessed with having a child after 17 childless years of marriage. She gives us the full menu of programmes she has gone through and the vast amounts of money spent on the failed pregnancy project. Now she and her husband Alan have had to downsize from their opulent home to a new place near the dodgy flats. A cat, apparently Alan’s idea of a perfect gift to a childless wife, has a significant walk-out role to play.
Both women encounter Dean,
a manipulative, sexual predator, keen on kinky sex locations, especially the zoo, and there are no surprises in the outcome, including a casual abortion and dangerous deceit. Using performers in multiple roles is common for small companies; a cap, a different walk or accent can do the job. Here, Dean is generally spoken by Jen (Emma Willis). The problem is that Jen’s accent and Dean’s are much the same – flat Dublin northside –and at times it’s not clear which of them is talking. You eventually get the hang of it, but it’s a distraction; and Emma Willis’s generally rushed delivery didn’t help. Dean is central to the story; a male voice was needed to appreciate fully his slimy lechery.
There’s obviously topical material in the two stories, but when handled side-by-side as elements in a would-be thriller, the main themes lose focus. The possibilities in the development are never realised, and the thriller element evolves into a contrived melodrama that’s tied up too neatly. And even at that, the play peters out into an unconvincing ending.
Ciara O’Callaghan is competent as the just-plausible posh girl slumming it, but one can have too much of a childless woman talking about her favourite topic for 100 minutes.
Spotless tours to six more venues and for details see riseproductions. ie