Port Authority

Tuesday, 24 January 2012 - Saturday, 18 February 2012
Times : 15:00 - 16:10 19:30 - 22:40

Southwark Playhouse, Shipwright Yard, Tower Bridge, SE1 2TF

How Much: £13.00 (Highest Price) , £9.00 (Lowest Price)

Conor McPherson describes his 2001 play as one that he couldn’t ignore, and while this three-hander couldn’t be said to clamour for your attention, it certainly has a quiet magnetism.

Three pan-generational tales of missed opportunities and heartache are layered delicately against a basic, yet evocative set of pallet boards, illustrating perhaps the ramshackle approach of all three characters towards defining moments in their lives.

The story of Joe, whose receipt of a decades-old photograph awakens memories that drive him to abscond from his retirement home, is the highlight of the evening - John Rogan gives a performance of poise and poignancy which is worth the ticket price alone. Ardal O’Hanlon invests newly-promoted businessman Dermot with an engaging balance of pathos and eagerness to please, albeit that his comic timing is possibly a little too refined. The youngest, Kevin, who flies the parental coop for a chaotic experience of communal living, is given a suitably chirpy and naïve performance by Andrew Nolan. McPherson’s script for Joe and Dermot has an economy and poetic lightness of touch, but in the latter story it stumbles slightly, confining the action a little too tightly in its own era.

Nevertheless, director Tom Attenborough handles the differing paces deftly and finds the understated passion of a play with a great deal of heart.

 

Dominic DiNezza