The Cave

Tommy Tiernan and Aaron Monaghan in The Cave. Image Ros Kavanagh

****

Barry does Samuel Beckett. Kevin Barry that is. The Abbey Theatre’s current production, The Cave, finding the renowned novelist slumming it as an absurdist playwright. Barry's dark comedy about the McRae Brothers, tramps living in a cave on Zion Hill in County Sligo, sees nothing much happening for long periods. Comic fisticuffs and their strained relationship with local Garda Helen rambling the long route to get to where you expect it to go. In which the troubled Archie obsesses over the past so he doesn't have to embrace the present or future. His brother Bopper, equally checked out from reality, indulges fantasies of Netflix sensation, Elvira Martinez, if only Irish celeb Con Costello wasn’t on the scene. The long suffering Helen has her issues too, but she’s essentially a straight woman to The Cave's Didi and Gogo. Helen constantly insisting they move on yet telling them to stay. Forever concerned about their ailing health yet never arresting them to ensure they get the care they need. Even when not doing so means one or both might die. Inconsistent to the point where you wish they’d jump off a cliff. Though they’d probably need to be pushed for that to happen rather than do it themselves. Why? It's hard to know and harder to want to know. Barry’s strained comedy taking a very long time to tell a very short story. Decorated with themes about the internet, family, mental health, and caring for those society casts aside. 

Judth Roddy, Tommy Tiernan and Aaron Monaghan in The Cave. Image Ros Kavanagh

Throughout, Barry as novelist struggles to adapt to the stage, serving up thirteen titled chapters in search of three cohesive acts. Most suffering from the novelist’s rambling rather than the playwright’s economy. Tricks like the explanatory recap frequently resorted to. With talk of ghosts, caves and legacy you could be forgiven for expecting John Moriarty’s wild mythic forces to set your spirit on fire. Yet less Moriarty’s wild man of the West so much as Way Out West, The Cave’s spirit is tamed and dulled. Leaning into absurdity it can’t support the weight, resting on one tone jokes coming soft and fast, rolled like dice and landing on winning combinations quite a lot of the time. Indeed Barry seems incapable of writing a line without a joke or a set up. Ensuring that when pathos arrives at the end (even that has a joke) it feels a little pathetic. Still, Barry can create a sensationally funny line, idea, or image, especially regards our online fascinations, even as he struggles to sustain comedy into a scene or a story. Many jokes recurring, like our celebrity infatuation, along with hilarious moments about using technology in the wild.

Aaron Monaghan and Tommy Tiernan in The Cave. Image Ros Kavanagh

Like its two unlikely protagonists, The Cave proves remarkably resilent despite, and sometimes because, of the surrounding clutter. If jokes are tediously steady, it allows Tommy Tiernan to shine, drawing on his stand-up skills to compliment a delicate and sensitive performance; Archie frequently resembling one of Tiernan's onstage personas. His chemistry with Arron Monaghan deeply affecting, particularly in later scenes. Monaghan’s gruff Bopper a genuine comic revelation whose singing alone is worth the price of admission. If Judith Roddy has little enough to do, she does it terrifically well, commanding the stage as a Sligo Garda ready for bigger and better things. Yet Helen is surplus to requirements, never more in evidence than the bathrobe scene as Monaghan and Tiernan play verbal tennis and Roddy dutifully rotates her head. Helen there to set them up, wrap it up, and add a little contrast. If Joanna Parker's set and costumes capture a sense of a Sligo bleak midwinter, the action takes place in summer. Stephen Dodd’s lighting and Sinéad Diskin's sound reinforcing the bleakness. Meanwhile director Caitríona McLaughlin crafts some glorious stage images as well as eliciting three strong performances.

Tommy Tiernan and Aaron Monaghan in The Cave. Image Ros Kavanagh

Fun, entertaining, and eminently enjoyable, The Cave is indicative of a broader concern. A question put to many people recently was what was the last play you recall seeing in The Peacock? The overwhelming answer; “I can't remember”. We have a dearth of venues, yet a perfectly brilliant one, once renowned for championing new work and new writers, sits mostly dark. If because of budgetary issues, that needs to be reassessed. There’s nothing wrong with shows like The Cave riding on the coat tails of a great novel or novelist and featuring popular TV celebrities. They're a welcome addition. But popularised productions aren't the way to secure a meaningful future. Nor are venues sitting dark.

The Cave, by Kevin Barry, runs at The Abbey Theatre until July 18.

For more information visit The Abbey Theatre