The Walworth Farce

I love the writing of Conor McPherson and Martin McDonagh, and this week I added a new list to that roll call of honour. Enda Walsh is another young Irish writer with the gift of the gab, a talent for using language and a great storyteller.
"The Walworth Farce" is presented at the National Theatre by Druid Productions, the first professional theatre company in Ireland to be based outside Dublin in Galway. Druid premiered Martin McDonagh's "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" in 1996 as a co-production with the Royal Court.
We find ourselves in a council flat at the top of a block on the Walworth Road,off the Elephant and Castle, in South London. There is a living room in the centre, a kitchen to stage left and a bedroom to stage right, Much of the plasterboard has been removed and what remains are the wooden frames of the stud walls beneath. This is a brilliant device for allowing us to see into all three rooms simultaneously. This is crucial as this play lives up to its title of being a farce. It is a comedic story told at speed by characters prompted by quiet desperation (and sometimes not so quiet). In the flat we meet the charming but terrifying Dinny (Denis Conway) and his two put upon sons, Sean (Tadhg Murphy) and Blake (Garrett Lombard). We learn their tragic family story told in a high octane and sometimes side splitting style. The arrival of an outsider, Hayley (Mercy Ojelade), threatens the whole structure of the family and beneath the laughter we see the pain and hurt.
The cast is impeccable in its timing and the direction under Mikel Murfi is designed to elicit every comic and tragic element from the play. Denis Conway as Dinny though was splendid. He is a large Irish actor ( those who know me will recognise why I might feel an affinity) who delivers a superlative performance full of enormous energy. He made me roar with laughter and yet also tugged at my heart strings. The part must have been written for him because he inhabits the character so thoroughly. Druid Productions are renowned for their work on John Millington Synge's plays and certainly, for me, this one is up there with "Playboy of the Western World", which Druid toured to Australia in 2005 and in which Denis Conway appeared. Denis also won an Irish Times Award 2001 for his performance of "Richard III" - I wish I had seen that!