Lorna Irvine reviews 'a paean to the unbreakable bonds of marriage'.
Stop me if you think you've heard this one before--some people would do anything for the one they love. This is the premise for Gary McNair's darkly humorous new PPP play.
Slightly ineffectual Jim (George Docherty) has just learned that his nae-nonsense wife Agnes (Maureen Carr) has cancer. The problem is, health insurance doesn't cover them, and money is scarce. What to do? Drinking, hope or meditation just isn't enough here.
A muscular political piece which avoids being polemical or hand-wringing, Jim and Agnes walk the tightrope between anger, hysteria and despair, as everyone does when cancer cuts the heart from a loving relationship.
Docherty's well-meaning Jim is portrayed a little tentatively at first, but when the jaw-dropping twists come, an unexpectedly moving story emerges, and the true meaning of sacrifice comes sharply into focus: a paean to the unbreakable bonds of marriage.
Jim's monologues which bookend the play are clear-eyed and true, right down to the shiver-inducing conclusion.
Performing until November 7 at Oran Mor.
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