Everyman Palace, Cork

Until Sep 18; Civic Theatre, Dublin Sep 21-25; Belltable, Limerick Sep 27-Oct 2; Mill Theatre, Dundrum, Dublin Oct 4-9

Anthony Brophy’s first play, staged by Gúna Nua, is not only determined to pull the rug out from under its audience, but also the floorboards and the foundations. What is initially a dizzy pleasure in Paul Meade’s production soon becomes a tumbling problem.

“To you, truth doesn’t exist, it’s a concept. But to me it’s a diamond,” says Ray (Emmet Kirwan), an office cleaner whose young daughter has been killed by a hit-and-run accident, which the solicitor Robert (Barry Barnes, left) knows plenty about. To the play, though, truth is a game: a series of switcheroos and explication, which sacrifice consistency, characterisation and tension for zingy one-liners and theatre in-jokes.

Over the course of the night, Robert’s destruction will be just about complete, further undone by an emotionally unstable mistress (Jane McGrath in a troublingly depthless role), a series of gun shots, and a running commentary from the ceaselessly wisecracking Ray, who represents the void at the centre of the play.

By the end, there’s some evidence to suggest the play is a reflection on performance itself, where people commit to parts with which they have no affinity, but by that point even Brophy’s funniest quips and narrative machinations become distractingly artificial, the innumerable twists occurring without emotional consequence, the play losing us around too many bends.

Can’t See That? Catch This

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