Learning to Dive
Brendan Murray
Directed by Willie Elliot
Damn cheek Productions
White Bear Theatre
Star rating: 2.5
We’re in Terry’s south coast home. Terry is played by the playwright. He’s elderly and he’s had a slight stroke, Then an angry young man (Darren Cheek as Matt) arrives to give Terry some letters and photographs found in the possession of his recently deceased father, Barry. It is fairly obvious where this is going as, gradually, Matt softens and the hitherto hidden past is revealed. The writing is strong. The well directed acting is very convincing. And, at the interval it feels like a reasonably satisfying one act play.
And that’s the trouble. The second half. in which we meet Barry’s wife, Jill (Karen Spicer – good) in conversation with her son, Matt, a week earlier feels like an add-on. Murray admitted in the post-show Q&A that it was an afterthought. Thus Leaning to Dive feels like a pair of inadequately integrated tangential plays rather than a cohesive piece of work. There are plot holes too. What made Matt decide to visit Terry? Did his mother send him? Moreover, there’s some issue with Matt’s unseen brother Chris, which is never fully explored or explained.
On the other hand, there is much to admire in this show. Murray and director Willie Elliot are very good at the use of quasi-Pinteresque silence and awkwardness which punctuates the dialogue as characters palpably process what they’re learning. And Karen Spicer is moving as, the wife who never understood her husband and who now, after his death works out the truth. There’s a lot of realism too. Barry was fond of his wife and adored his children and grandchildren but life can be complicated.
The sound design is effective too. There’s a clock ticking loudly in Terry’s living room which heightens the tension and a Chet Baker number which everyone associates with Barry.
Work in progress?
