A Review- Bedbound

Enda Walsh's plays are explosive, unsettling, unapologetically dark but still captivating and thought-provoking for the audience. Ones goes to the theatre to feel something, to be moved, to be frightened, to be appalled, to laugh. It is a rare occasion to feel all of these emotions from one performance. However, when I  left the New Theatre after seeing Pillowtalk's production of Bedbound I found myself in a flurry of emotion, as if I had experience something traumatic, hilarious and beautiful all at the same time. And I had.

Entering the New Theatre was like stepping into a scene from a nightmare. With a huge portion of the stage covered in an assortment of furniture built into a barricade around a single bed centre stage, there was instantly a sense of inescapable confinement. The dim yellow lights shining from the lamps and chandeliers create an eerie atmosphere, like something one might find in an abandoned  church.
The Daughter, played by Sara Joyce, sits draped in sheets, clinging to the bedcovers frantically as she eye-balls the audience with definite unease. Her first action on stage is to regurgitate a liquid onto her sheets, which is an indicator that this production is not for the faint hearted.

The Daughter (Sara Joyce) has been imprisoned in this chamber for 10 years, after being struck by polio, destroying her father's dream of building a family franchise furniture store. The Father (Fionn Ó Loinsigh) has only recently become an inhabitant of this dungeon. Throughout the play, the father and the daughter work together, re creating moments that have circumstantially caused their imprisonement together in this man-made room.

The pace and energy of the actors is vigorous and endearing for an audience to watch. Moments where Joyce speaks with such momentous flurry often stops suddenly, leaving us almost short of breath as we attempt to regain our thoughts. Joyce proves herself to be a real chameleon actor in this play, regularly transforming in to various exaggerated characters, making the audience howl with laughter at her ludicrous facial expressions and accents before suddenly transforming back into the twisted, disturbed daughter in the blink of an eye. Despite his age, Ó Loinsigh performs with such an enormous amount of commitment and energy that he successfully  makes us believe that he is the deranged and frenzied father who kept his wife and daughter captive for a decade.

Rosemary McKenna's direction is fantastically precise, focusing hugely on the physicality of her actors. Although Joyce remains rooted in the bed sheets for the production, McKenna ensures that Ó Loinsigh uses the entire space of the stage, exulting a boundless amount of energy throughout.
McKenna sometimes pushes the boundaries with her actors, making the audience feel somewhat uneasy. However, it is such moments that truly embody the dangerous way in which Walsh himself writes and makes this theatrical experience even more memorable for the audience.

Pillowtalk's production of Bedbound is laced with moments of absolute comic genius, utter terror and heartbreaking poignancy. Through impressive and committed actors, a risk-taking director with a clear vision and understanding of the text and a creative and talented team of designers (Lights: Dan Bergin, Set: Zia Holly and Sound: Ciarán Clarke) this production of Bedbound is not to be missed.

Riveting and unsettling, Bedbound will stay in your mind long after you leave the theatre.

Fionnuala Gygax- 26/08/11