Simon Ward reviews Heaven at the Southwark Playhouse Borough

Following successful runs in Dublin, Edinburgh and New York, this is the London premiere of Eugene O’Brien’s 2022 play. Presented as a series of interlocking and overlapping monologues – tellingly the couple at the heart of the piece never address each other directly on stage – this is the story of Mairead (Janet Moran) and Mal (Andrew Bennett). They are in their fifties, married for twenty years or so, and are both, in their different ways, beginning to find their life together intolerable. Over the course of a weekend spent back in Mairead’s hometown in County Offaly for a family wedding, the simmering resentments and unspoken desires of their long relationship come to a head in ways they could never have foreseen.

The writing is beautifully assured, balancing wit, even hilarity, with an underlying poignancy. The performances match the quality of the writing. The down-at-heel town, still yet to recover from the ravages of the Celtic Tiger is brilliantly evoked. As is the unease of a return home after long absence, where everything feels weirdly familiar although many things have changed. There are fewer recognisable faces at the bar – even the barman has to be reminded.

Both Moran and Bennett bring out the unfolding layers of their characters with subltety and skill. Moran, in particular, has a knack of delivering the most powerful emotion with a mere vocal inflection. We come to really know and feel for these characters. They also manage to conjure up a huge supporting cast of fellow wedding guests – the countless dramas that a wedding brings to the surface are vividly realised. O’Brien’s writing is Joycean in its evocation of epiphanies partially achieved and yet tantalisingly out of reach. As Mal dreams of descending to a world where he can be himself, Mairead wants to soar to new heights, and so they both dream of moving further from each other. O’Brien manages to wrap a laugh-out-loud and note-perfect rendition of an Irish country wedding – up to and including the playlist – with a heartbreaking story of two people who can never really connect.

In fact, there is a third person in their story – Mal and Mairead’s daughter Siobhan. She does not appear but she is an unsettling offstage presence – another source of tension between the couple and a further reason for Mairead’s feelings of guilt because she and her daughter don’t get on at all. Together they have created a facsimilie of a happy family of father, mother and daughter but it’s been based on fantasy and playing a part rather than out of genuine love. It is only a matter of time before things fall spectacularly apart.

This is a serious and powerful drama. It tackles themes that are difficult and unsettling. The enduring power of religion and the church in Ireland. The powerful forces of conformity leading people into inauthentic and unhappy lives. The tragedy of missed opportunities and misunderstandings. Yet it is also highly entertaining, very funny and utterly gripping. Don’t miss the chance to witness this fine example of Irish writing at its best.

Heaven is running at the Southwark Playhouse Borough, 77-85 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BD, until Saturday 22nd February.