Lonesome West is the story of the Connors, two brothers from Galway who love to hate one another. Orphaned, they share a run-down home in which the chairs, table, stove and floor are owned by Valene, who spends his time fiercely guarding his possessions from his brother Coleman. Coleman infuriates his brother in a way only a sibling can - explicitly using the items he’s told not to touch, drinking from Valene’s secret supply of potcheen, reading his brother’s magazines and munching his crisps - for which Valene charges him seventeen pence a packet.

Their feuding and fighting is a cause of sorrow to the local priest, Father Welsh (Arthur Kendrick), who, between crises of faith, makes it his duty to reconcile them. His moralizing concern for their wayward behaviour and lack of interest in the consequences of their actions turns out to be justified: it emerges from the brothers’ quick-fire exchanges that the reason Valene owns the house is that he made Coleman sign away his share of their inheritance in return for keeping quiet about Coleman having shot their father. His reason for the murder: his father mocked his hairstyle.

This is the level of pettiness that provokes the Connor brothers into action - but it is the seriousness with which they defend their choices (and Valene his collection of plastic figurines) that gives the play its force.

Michael Campbell is brilliant as Coleman, with huge stage presence, great timing and a superb (native) Irish accent. His baiting of his brother is performed with the precision and subtlety of years of experience. He knows exactly which buttons to press, teasing Valene for his fastidiousness, his virginity, his relentless checking of whether Coleman has used his stove, and his being a ‘fecking gayboy’. Valene, played by Jack Hudson, is harassed and unreasonable, but not unjustified in his miserly dealings with his brother. This is the success of their sibling relationship - what they portray is beyond belief, but somehow completely credible.

The final cast-member is Girleen (Genevieve Gaunt), a feisty schoolgirl peddling her father’s liqueur cabinet in order to buy a gift for Father Welsh. She seems to have a soft spot not only for him but for all the males of the play - her opening remarks are, ‘I bet those boys outside wanted to get inside my knickers’, accompanied by a waggle of her very un-Catholic school skirt.

Girleen and Father Welsh provide an outsider’s perspective on the Connor brothers, opening their eyes to the tragedies of their neighbours in an attempt to throw their bickering into some relief, and periodically breaking up their fist fights. (These are fantastically directed by Charlie Risius - though most scenes are punctuated by Hudson and Campbell smacking each other as they roll about on the floor among the crumbs of the crisps Valene has knocked from Coleman’s hand, it never gets dull.)

The remainders of food the brothers have fought over (from crisps to vol-au-vents nabbed from funerals) become a memorable feature of the set. Designed by Sarah Fox, the stage is the Connors’ living room, comprising Valene’s fiercely guarded but ill-cared for furniture and possessions. The focal point is the mantlepiece displaying Valene’s growing collection of colorful plastic saints, which Coleman periodically destroys. Above these hangs the rifle with which Coleman shot his father, and which the brothers frequently level at each other, and at the very top hangs a crucifix. It is a hierarchy of symbols that never materializes in the brothers’ behaviour: they are ruled first by petty whims and the urge to possess, then by their violent compulsions, and somewhere beneath it all lurk the dregs of morality.

This is an excellent production. Though a few words were lost in the heavy Irish accents, more lines were covered by the audience’s uproarious laughter. It is a play that, while being deadly serious, manages to make you laugh. All evening.

 

For more of Maya Beano's photos of the show visit http://www.varsity.co.uk/lifestyle/voyeur/lonesome-west-preview