The Night Alive review, Donmar Warehouse

Tommy Fun

Ciaran Hinds is an actor who is half gargoyle, half god.  If he sat beside you late at night on the top deck of the number 52 bus, you'd hold your bag tight, but when that huge, ungainly face comes to life, there is profound humanity in every expression. In Conor McPherson's new play, The Night Alive, Hinds is Tommy, a forty-something Dublin chancer, living in squalor on the ground floor of his uncle Maurice's house. The ex-wife is complaining about his parenting, there's not enough work for a man with a van, and the empty pizza boxes are piling up. But there is contentment in being the master of one's own universe, even when that universe is infinitesimally small. Tommy's good mate, Doc, is bumming a bed and brings blokeish diversion. Then Aimee appears on the scene, and everything goes out of kilter.

Rescued by Tommy after a violent attack, Aimee seeks refuge in Tommy's room. There are echoes in the plotting here, of McPherson's highly spooky and successful, The Weir. The woman's history holds the key to the events that follow, and with the arrival of her menacing, hammer-toting, ex boyfriend, Kenneth, nobody's safe. As Maurice bangs on the ceiling and arrives to complain about the noise from downstairs, events take a dark turn.

McPherson likes to spook and displace his characters, but ultimately he loves them.  We stand alongside Tommy every step, even as he's hastily cleaning his foul bathroom with the dishcloth, eating dog biscuits and sniffing cups.  He is totally knowable. Soutra Gilmour's set changes imperceptibly with Tommy's fortunes and is almost attractive by the end. Caoilfhionn Dunne is both ethereal and likeable as Aimee, and Michael McElhatton's bumbling Doc, wins hearts,

In conclusion: It's a long piece- an hour and three quarters with no interval - and that's a bit of a slog at the end of a working day, but there is plenty of Irish charm and humour in this shaggy dog story to keep you engaged. The Night Alive doesn't quite catch fire, but it provides a consistent heat.

References
Donmar Warehouse, Tickets

Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX. Last performance 27 July.