notjustaboutsex

Fishamble Theatre Company from Dublin has brought the wonderful Heaven by playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Eugene O’Brien to Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish play festival at 59 east 59^th Street Theatres.

Heaven at first seems like a simple story. Mairead (Janet Moran) in her fifties, now living in Limerick with her husband Mal (Andrew Bennett), has come back for a wedding. She shares with us her desire for more in her life, perhaps prompted by watching the newlyweds show the type of passion she and Mal never shared. Mal for his part reveals a childhood fascination with Jesus on the cross and other rumblings of unrequited passions that have remained dormant his entire adult life. Though each one speaks alone on stage, one never feels alone as they make their world of characters so vivid that you almost see them.

Full of rich depictions of midland life and mid-age anxiety, Heaven is so beautifully balanced, that you understand each of their conditions, and their wants. The set is like a pub church, so their confessions are perfectly placed.

Do we ever really know our partners deepest, darkest thoughts? The play helps you realize the amount that each member of the duet must ignore in order to go on with the everyday. That is, until they can’t ignore anymore.

The actors are terrific as is the writing. Not to be missed.