Notwithstanding its author's respected opinion, 21 years on from its first performance, this reviewer reckons that A Life is still the best of Hugh Leonard's many excellent plays. It is not only the most exquisite dramatic construction that the master craftsman has wrought, it is also one of his most telling and tender works about how human beings feel and think and move through their finite lives. It is primarily the story of Desmond Drumm who, having been told by his doctor that he has six months to live, demands an audit of his life: the good and the bad, the pluses and the minuses, and how the final balance sheet might add up. Drumm is the harshest of his accountants: the worst that his less pedantic friends can say is that he is a dry old stick, but still one of their own. The author graciously leaves the calculation of the balance to his audience to determine after the final curtain.
Drumm's father had been a teacher, determined that his son would, through education and application, rise above his Dalkey pals. But that rise was achieved at some considerable emotional price. He loved Mibs in his youth, but his "standards" would not let him marry her. So he married Dorothy who was besotted with him and Mibs married his pal Lar, who was to spend more time on the dole than Drumm spent in the Civil Service. We meet them all in the play: the young Desmond and Mibs (Mary), the old Drumm and Dolly (Dorothy), the young Lar and Dorothy and Mibs, the old Lar and Mary. The author cuts beautifully and poignantly between youth and age and always within a wholly convincing Dalkey landscape.
Ben Barnes's new production is thoughtful, sensitive to the needs of the author's text and to the needs of his excellent actors. There were some uncertainties of pace and intonation on the first night but the characterisations and the overall direction were sound enough to ensure that both performances and production will settle quickly and develop perfectly. John Kavanagh's dying Drumm, more cutting of himself than of his friends with his unforgiving rationality, rises impressively from pedantry to tragedy. Barbara Brennan's Mary, her constant irritation with Drumm mellowed by the news of his personal sorrow, is the embodiment of emotional intelligence and real love, while Stephen Brennan's old Lar is a masterly confection of unquestioning forgiveness and knowing dim-wittedness.
Bernadette McKenna is the quietly intelligent and deeply loving Molly. Tom Murphy is the insufferably pompous young Desmond, Fiona Glascott the skittishly attractive Mibs, Patrick Moy the care-free young Lar and Fidelma Keogh the serious-minded yet daftly doting young Dorothy. They are all lovely and, lest the heavy-sounding theme seems off-putting, they all contribute splendidly to the great comedy of the play. Christopher Oram has provided a spare and wholly effective setting, very well lit by Nick Chelton.
Please don't miss it. It is deeply touching, determinedly funny and very well done by all concerned.
Runs until September 2nd. To book phone (01) 878 7222.
