No Ordinary Fool

This distinctly Irish play equally bears some casual resemblances to both the parable of the prodigal son and Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. It begins with a humorous and familiar domestic scene that is filled with the awkwardness and petty jealousies and rivalries that can arise when adult children return to the family home – with partners in tow. However, there are also frequent hints in the play’s lengthy opening exposition that this is a family who has been silently nursing a deep wound for a long time. Consequently, when an indiscreet remark unintentionally tears the scab away, ugly pus oozes out, with years of concealed guilt and unspoken resentment giving way to vocal anger and bitter rebukes.

However, in doing so, playwright Deirdre Kinahan does not appear to be especially interested in either the revelations themselves or what they might signify. Rather, her emphasis is more on demonstrating how one terrible instant can irrevocably alter the lives of many. Teresa (Deirdre Donnelly) has become a nervous wreck; her daughter Niamh (Maeve Fitzgerald) is insecure and testy, whilst Nial (Ronan Leahy) behaves like a furtive nocturnal mammal. Even the calm and sensible Ciara (Kate Ni Chonaonaigh), who was too young to properly understand at the time, has had her entire life overshadowed by this event.

Equally, there is something distinctly Irish about how the family has dealt with this incident. In fact, as perhaps hinted at by an introductory radio news broadcast about the perilous state of the Irish economy, the play appears to have something to say about our general psyche as a people that goes well beyond its immediate subject matter. Namely, rather than deal with even the most evident of problems, our tendency is to sweep such matters under the carpet and pretend that they never existed. Yet, as magical solutions go, this one has consistently proved to be quite useless, as Moment goes on to demonstrate.

Directed by David Horan and with an impressive and meticulously designed set from Maree Kearns, this play abounds in natural and free-flowing dialogue, which the eight-strong cast from the Tall Tales theatre company do great justice to. On an often busy stage, flanked on two sides by the audience, they move and speak with real ease, including talking right over each other at times. While Donnelly and Fitzgerald may be the most notable two in terms of their respective performances, all of the actors wear their distinct characters like a second skin and the overall effect is to make this quite a compelling and recommended kitchen-sink drama.