ALSO PLAYING
(Peacock, by Noelle Brown and Michele Forbes, first performed at the 2013 Fringe festival, is a rarity – a docudrama about the heartbreak of an adopted woman searching for the facts about her birth, that is neither maudlin nor self-pitying. There’s anger and disappointment in it; it’s deeply moving at times, yet, it’s lightened by some fine humorous writing. Noelle Brown, adopted at eight weeks old into a loving home – where she knew she was adopted – was 35 when she decided to trace her birth mother and father. It was the start of an exhausting and frustrating search. There was an almost impenetrable wall between herself and her adoptive family and the nuns and the priest unwilling to share the story of her birth mother and her situation. The play is beautifully performed and the light touch makes it very entertaining, without ever attempting to hide the pain of the unavailing search. Brown adopts the persona of an American fictional private eye and much of the hunt is told in the form of letters from her adoptive aunt Patty, who, I assume, has at least some basis in fact. She’s a woman with a gift for expansive descriptions of family trivialities, while also trying to dissuade Noelle from her search. It’s a gem of a comic role, played with great panache by Bríd Ní Neachtain, who also doubles as a landlady trying to keep in touch with the ever-moving Noelle. As the play progresses, the emotional pain of the situation becomes more pronounced, bringing home the exasperation and helplessness of adopted children under our legal system. Runs until June 24
‘Deeply moving but not maudlin or self-pitying’