ALSO PLAYING
The Afters (HHHH, coming to The Viking, Clontarf) presents a sadly common situation:
In the 1980s, a young girl gets pregnant, the male involved disappears, and the girl is literally left holding the baby. That’s the basis of
Ger Gallagher’s new play premiered at The Dolmen, Cornelscourt in October. The well-constructed plot keeps the interest alive, throwing an unflattering light on the families and the prevailing morality.
Central to it is Jane (Rachael Dowling), daughter of the late unscrupulous local TD and his wife. Any whiff of scandal would be political death, so Jane, aged 16, is shipped off to England to be looked after by her more tolerant aunt. Thirty years later
Jane has returned to help her mother (Geraldine Plunkett), an interfering, manipulative, gossipy woman with a built-in air of superiority. Jane is her unpaid, unappreciated and resentful support.
At a local wedding reception, while her mother is temporarily absent, Jane (Rachael Dowling) is confronted with the longgone absconding father,
Tommy (Seamus Moran), home on holiday from the States. It’s a delicate situation that needs careful handling. There’s too much history to squeeze comfortably into 65 minutes, and it would help dramatic tension if some of the dialogue, (including a gratuitous stab at nuns), were trimmed. But the acting is excellent and the evolving story is a recognisable account of human failings and duplicity, and of tenacity in the face of betrayal. Touring to The Viking, Clontarf, Dec 2-14.