Conor McPherson is an extraordinary writer. Ive seen most of his plays, and two of them, Shining City and The Weir are just stunning. Both deal with loss and grief, both are modern day ghost stories. In the great Irish tradition he loves to spin a good yarn, as do his characters who often tell stories within the plays. It is McPhersons belief that a good tale well told will hold an audience gripped that is risky but ultimately vindicated.
And so it is with this one-man play. Such shows are always difficult for an audience. If the material or the performer arent holding your attention, you cant sit there thinking well someone else will be on in a minute to make it better. No worries here. Peter Dineen takes on the role of a pompous, power crazed theatre critic (!) who tells us an extraordinary tale which lasts slightly too long at an hour and twenty but is nevertheless compelling. Richard James direction is simple and untricksy, allowing Dineens stage-craft and McPhersons remarkable words do their job.
Acknowledging that the audience and he are in the same room, and that we have paid to hear him talk, Dineen often breaks from the story to question the very nature of the experience were all going through why should we believe him? But believe him we do, even though essentially this is a story about vampires. I dont want to spoil it for you, and it had too many twists and turns to explain here anyway. Strangely I found the initial twenty minutes, when Dineens alcohol ravaged critic takes us into the world of journalists and thespians he used to inhabit the most compelling. Its almost more bizarre than the vampires that follow. There is also a tale within a tale about a woodcutter in times gone by which is one of the most extraordinary explanations of the experience of grief and love Ive ever heard.
This piece is about many things, but ultimately it is about what makes us human. McPherson seems to be saying that it is the ability to hope, to reflect and to love irrationally even when it hurts. In the last few moments of the piece Dineen says that anyone who is truly, blissfully and serenely in love, a love without pain, blesses all of us. And he looks at us and asks where are you? three times.
No one put their hand up, not even the pompous, power-crazed theatre critic in the corner.
