Tryst – Project Arts Centre – Review by Frank L.

Dates: 03 Apr – 14 Apr
Show Time: 7.45pm
Tickets: €14 – € 16

Written by Jeda de Bri and Finbarr Doyle

Originally premiered in the Dublin Fringe Festival 2016, Tryst returns to the Project Arts Centre. Matt (Finbarr Doyle) and Steph (Katie McCann) are a week away from their wedding. It’ll be a formal affair with all the trimmings! The couple are hungover but all the niggardly details to make the big day a perfect occasion have to be ironed out. The little things such as writing an individual place name for each guest. Matt has not even started on his half of this task.  Steph’s mother is on the phone relaying the requirements from the priest who is marrying the happy couple. While Steph may want a traditional white wedding, the way the couple have lived makes this look a tad hypocritical. Unexpectedly, their chief bridesmaid Rachel (Clodagh Mooney Duggan) drops in. She has information which will place the fantasy of the formal wedding and all its trappings under strain.

De Bri and Doyle have written a script which reveals the different expectations which Steph, Matt and Rachel have about the forthcoming wedding and the resultant marriage. They have all known each other a long time and while they are close friends the underlying dynamics of their lives have substantial differences. Rachel is alone in the world, Matt has a growing drink problem and Steph is a far more conventional person than probably she ever realised. The issues which now come to haunt them are those arising from a drunken threesome.  Each of the characters tells their reaction to those consequences. Each is primarily concerned with their own story and their future. Little regard or understanding is shown by each of them to the other two. Each justifies their own position.

The auditorium is laid out so that the audience is on three sides. There is one armchair, a table beside it and a coffee table. It is all contemporary and shiny. This configuration ensures that the audience is intimately involved in the various dilemmas which now face each of the protagonists. Those dilemmas are revealed in a compelling script. Each of the actors portray the inner turmoil which envelopes them as the world as they understood it begins to crumble.

This play is relevant to the many issues which are not unusual in the lives of young adults. It reveals a society in Ireland in which they have complicated relationships, failed expectations and their own individual inadequacies. Yet there is a need to be hugged! It is a production to be applauded and demands a visit.

Find out more about Tryst here.

Performed by Katie McCann, Clodagh Mooney Duggan & Finbarr Doyle
Written by Jeda de Brí & Finbarr Doyle
Directed by Jeda de Brí
Set Design by Katie Foley
Costume Design by Nicola Burke
Lighting Design by Dara Hoban
Stage Managment by Sinead Purcell
Production Photography by Ste Murray
Poster Design by Molly OCathain & Lisa Doyle