The seemingly inevitable influence of television on up-and-coming writers can prove wearisome at times, yet Joe Pendall's 1997 play, Love and Understanding, which received its Irish premiere from Purpleheart Theatre Company last week, does offer a glimpse of a playwright in waiting.
Pendall depicts the world of unfulfilled late twentysomething professionals with acerbic clarity, especially in the pathologically selfish character of Ritchie, the protagonist who nonchalantly decides to undermine his best (and only) friend Neal's relationship with girlfriend Rachel.
Neal is the perfect counterfoil to Ritchie, albeit at times annoyingly so, while Rachel is essentially both buffer and conduit for Pendall's observations. Pendall does not offer much background or explanation for his characters, which results in less substance than one might wish, but this is compensated for somewhat by the sharpness of dialogue.
The use of short episodic scenes, coupled with a tendency to tie up all possible loose ends, does however incline this work overall to the more pedantic small screen than the dynamics of the stage.
Nonetheless, the fine Purpleheart cast - Les Martin, Stewart Roche and Janet Moran, under the sensitive and perceptive direction of John O'Brien - render this play engaging.