A heart-wrenching performance by the wonderful Wotlarx Enterprises, Can You Hear Seagulls? is an hour of subtle humour and warmth. The play is a simple set up: the last afternoon of conversation between a long married couple, Jimmy and Sal. There was nothing simple about the emotions the pair drew from their audience, though. I cannot stress enough how beautiful the connection between the two actors was and how well they showed the love and devotion the couple had for one another. I was definitely not the only one hastily wiping away the tears before the house lights went up.
This production was intimate and thought provoking, moving the audience to contemplate their own relationships and mortality. The pair managed this without any hamfisted suggestion of a deeper message, but instead simply by their fantastic choice of script and whole hearted submission to their characters. However, while the play was darkly humourous at some points, I think it would have benefitted from a little more comedy. The characters talk about a lifetime of love and family but these things aren’t complete without laughter. A little more of the beautifully funny side of life and this play would have been wholly captivating.
The setting, too, was perfect for this familiar conversation. A small room transformed into a living room recognisable anywhere, with a small bookcase, a round table and chairs - perfectly simple and generic. This simplicity allowed the audience to form their own image, one that they knew and felt comfortable in. I loved this confidential, dark and tender set up. It also brought the attention wholly to the actors, which only served to concentrate the love between the two.
This is an absolutely heartbreaking, wonderful and gentle production. You will laugh and you will cry, and you will leave the room feeling in tune with life and knowing that you have just witnessed some damn good theatre.
