View from the Green Room: Too close for comfort
Roisin Hacket-Nolan (writer) and Lauren Cardiff (actress).
Director James Power likes site-specific drama and the placing of Róisín Hackett-Nolan’s new play ‘Confinement’ in the Gallery at the Tramore Coastguard Cultural Centre is just right for a dark drama that’s wordy, intense, dramatic and claustrophobic.
The drama is set in a small Dublin flat during Covid lockdown and Jess (Lauren Cardiff) and Shell (Clodagh Kenny) and the girls have got the neighbour from hell on their adjoining wall.
Voiceovers from then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar give regular details of the lockdown – complete with regular updates on known infections and daily deaths from the virus.
Róisín Hackett-Nolan’s script is full of twists and turns that keep the audience onside as the dramatic hook of what to do with the noisy, anti-social neighbour gathers pace.
The novelty of Covid lockdown – films to watch, boyfriends to dish the dirt on, future marital and career prospects – soon wears off as boredom and tetchiness sets in. The contrast between the pair is the oxygen that drives the drama.
Jess is paranoid about the epidemic and goes to extraordinary lengths to ward off any danger of infection. To the point that she becomes a health freak that sums up daily death numbers and rattles them off in escalating paranoia. Shell is more laid back and takes matters in her stride. G&Ts rescue her along with the odd drag.
Constant tension between Jess’s forbiddance of Shell’s disregard of the danger of lapsing into alcoholism and Shell’s desire to break free of the lockdowns of Covid make for amusing if tense squabbles. The beauty of the script is the care and genuine concern that both girls have for each other in distressing and confined circumstances.
Phone calls and letters (remember them?) from mothers betray the bravado and loss of family is huge.
And the noise from next door never stops. The banging…rattling…garage music until 4am. It’s getting on the girls’ nerves and it has to stop.
And that’s just where the problems start when mistakes are made and fate takes over. Bad decisions bring untidy consequences.
Director James Power directs with power and pace although the crescent seating arrangement would have worked better. In the close confines of the Coastguard, there’s no hiding place for performers. Both actresses are superb. Lauren Cardiff’s descent from pleasant and concerned pal into paranoia that borders oncoming mental health issues is superb. Clodagh Kenny’s ascent from carefree and laid-back flatmate to concerned and assertive friend with a razor-sharp intelligence is equally powerful.
Playwright Róisín Hackett-Nolan’s script sparkles with edgy conversation and sprinkles of black humour. Dramatic twists and turns drive the play on and manipulate the audience into genuine concern for the fate of two young, intelligent girls who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. The contrasting and unexpected development of both characters is great writing and I left the Coastguard with two more characters in my orbit.
You just can’t beat good writing.
