Morning and Afternoon - written and performed by veteran Irish director Andy Hinds - presents two interweaving soliloquies, involving two brother’s at an impasse, reflecting on their lives and deliberating on existence.
Morning acquaints us with Niall, a quiet Derry man living in Germany and waiting for news on his terminally ill wife, who has gone into premature labour. Afternoon introduces capricious and confrontational Danny, forever travelling and about to embark on yet another journey.
Niall tentatively recalls his insular childhood with an angry Father resulting in a stifled adulthood fraught with overhanging inadequacies and overwhelming isolation. Thoughts of family lead to memories of elder brother Danny - his protector and abandoner - whom he yearns to reconnect with in this difficult time.
Danny bitterly offers his quandary of forced emigration. Unable to get a job in his sectarian hometown Derry and forever at loggerheads with his Father, he exiled himself, favoring instead a life of wandering and labour. Angry and despairing at his pitiful, lonely lot in life he is spurred into tracking down his estranged brother.
Northern Irish politics, relationships, human want and displacement are just some of the issues the lyrical passages touch on, with the overriding emphasis on life’s mundanities; the starkness of unfulfilled lives echoed in the stilted delivery.
Both men’s monologues unravel through Hinds’ classical storytelling, increasing intrigue and tension with a non-linear reveal of the character’s accounts. However, the wandering prose, though peppered with heartfelt lyrical delicacy and delivered with poise by Hinds, would benefit from a final edit to ensure the saga doesn’t sag and the audience stay invested.
Hinds’ is engaging as both brothers, delivering two starkly contrasting men, but as balanced as the delivery is the dramatic momentum is not sustained, with the second installment lacking the empathetic force of the former and both ultimately failing to challenge or inspire the viewer.
The overall result is a thoughtful, tender and searching production which fails to reach beyond the routine.
Runs til 26 Aug (not 20 Aug), 1.55pm