Sibling relations, folklore and longing are central themes in this play by a writer many regard as one of foremost dramatists of the modern age; and there are a couple of unexpected South Asian elements…
By Suman Bhuchar
IRISH playwright Conor McPherson is considered to be among the great contemporary playwrights and his latest play, ‘The Brightening Air’ at the Old Vic Theatre is a treat.
There is something deep about his work which is about family, folklore and regret. Two women, Lydia and Billie, are toing and froing, as they set the table for awaited guests.
They chat and Billie can recite station names off by heart and before too long she’s reeled off the desire to travel to Varanasi – the logic being that if you’re cremated there you don’t have to be reborn.
Set in 1981 in a country area in the Republic of Ireland, ‘The Brightening Air’ is the story of members of a family and their relationships with each other and the impact of decisions of one member on others.
Billie – finely played by Rosie Sheehy – could be considered to be mildly autistic and Lydia (Hannah Morrish) is her sister-in-law, married to the faithless, Dermot (Chris O’Dowd), a man who’s having a midlife crisis but enjoys some financial success and lives in town.
He is coming back for the weekend with his staff /girlfriend Freya (Aisling Kearns).
Lydia (Dermot’s wife) is still in love with him and asks his brother, Stephen (Brian Gleeson) to get her some magic water from a well so she can get her husband back. (But it’s obvious to the audience that Stephen silently pines for her).
Into this, arrives their blind uncle, the priest Father Pierre (Seán McGinley) and his housekeeper (Derbhle Crotty).
Dermot has an ulterior motive to sell the family farm where his siblings Billie and Stephen live a humdrum life. What will happen to them?
McPherson also directs the play and has given it a four act Chekhovian structure where the characters silent emotions seep into the atmosphere.
Melancholy, lost opportunity, regret and loneliness permeate along with humour.
The title itself comes from a WB Yeats’ poem ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus’; the phrase , ‘The Brightening Air’ refers to when dreams meet reality.
These people congregate on the crumbling family farm.
The set by Rae Smith is an interior of a dining cum front room with a gauze curtain at the back with a painting on it with sadness lingering around the edges.
Life unfolds slowly but just like any family there are a lot of secrets and hidden desires.
The farm help, Brendan (Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty) loves Rosie, but is sort of dismissed until a rival enters the fray in the form of Freya.
‘The Brightening Air’ speaks to our common humanity and in a surprise – for Hindi film buffs – features the song ‘Chalte, Chalte’, from ‘Pakeezah’, which plays at a crucial moment.
It’s as though everyone is waiting for a miracle which will lift them from their mundane existence and give them the joy they seek. This is a profound and moving drama.
ACV rating: **** (out of five).
All pictures including the top of The Company by ©ManuelHarlan
Listing
The Brightening Air by Conor McPherson until June 14 at The Old Vic, 103 The Cut, London SE1 8NB https://www.oldvictheatre.com/stage/the-brightening-air/
