What kind of man is it possible to be? That is Amy Conroy’s probing question in her 2015 play, which places gender identity at the heart of a family drama. Returning to Ireland for the imminent death of his father, Mark – who used to be Laura – has no wish to think fondly of big Ted. As they sit in the hospital room, Mark (Riley Carter) and his gay brother Gary (Ross O’Donnellan) recall growing up in Ted’s domineering shadow. But their childhood friend Sullivan (Jamie O’Neill) contradicts their sour recollections, defending the man who was a father figure to him.
The threat of violence hovers in the air, while the deathbed setting and twist on the father-son theme allow for some scorching truth-telling, as the sarcastic Gary and blunt Sullivan struggle to accept Mark’s new gender identity. Although performed with pent-up energy by O’Donnellan and O’Neill, the two men appear less as fully realised characters than as alternative versions and cliches of masculinity to which Mark can react. Carter’s Mark makes the most of his Mamet-esque dialogue: firing off one-liners, he deliberately goads the other two, pacing around them. Describing a parodic version of Gary’s gay lifestyle and Sullivan’s marital compromises, he seems to be testing possibilities for his own life.
Tamping down some of the humour of the script’s banter, director Wayne Jordan sets a sombre tone for this production, amplified by the grey-browns of designer Sarah Bacon’s backdrop, evoking the cold Atlantic waters nearby. Here the underlying note is of grief: over damage, and wasted potential. Slowly shifting to a shared childhood memory of trauma, the play’s emotional layers create an affecting finale in which Mark’s struggle for self-knowledge brings new courage and insight.
• At Abbey theatre, Dublin, until 14 May.
