A Christmas Visit – Viking Theatre – Review
by Frank L.

A Christmas Visit – Written by Stewart Roche
Runs –  Monday 13 November to Saturday 2 December 2023 20:00

It is Christmas Eve and by chance two old flames meet in a local pub. Kelly (Lesley Conroy) is a traditional exile who has returned home for Christmas, but she is unusual as she has come without her family. Andrew (Jed Murray) is the man who has stayed in Ireland and although he lives and now works in Galway, he shares caring for his ailing mother in Dublin with his sister Roisin (Helen McGrath).

Mary Doherty has created a comfortable set with a substantial glass display case, a capacious sofa, a large armchair and some family photographs. An effort has been made for the festive season but not a great deal. It is a space which exudes familiarity and security, typical of a room which its elderly owner has chosen not to alter.

Andrew and Kelly have a great deal to catch up on but each is circumspect and on their guard. She drinks gin and tonic and he Jameson and ginger. One has married and has kids, the other has not. Their lives have run very different courses. In consequence, their conversation is guarded as they tiptoe around their past and make small confessions about their respective current situations. Needless to say, neither’s life is ideal. It takes time for both of them to get to what is on their minds but their steady consumption of alcohol assists. However, the atmosphere changes radically when Roisin joins Andrew who is now sitting alone.  The spirit of Christmas past now permeates the atmosphere.

Conroy captures the sense of insecurity and uncertainty which surrounds Kelly and her decision to leave her family in Chicago to travel back to Ireland alone for Christmas. Her defensiveness is palpable. Murray’s insecurity is of a very different order. His life has been a series of minor and not-so-minor disappointments since he qualified as an archaeologist. He lacks the self-assuredness to ask Kelly the questions that are burning within him. Roche’s text moves at a very measured pace as the two protagonists warily circle around each other. They reveal slowly their thoughts.

The plot only reaches out into other areas with the arrival of Roisin and her news, which raises more questions than answers. Yet it cleverly makes you wonder about the myths that surround past Christmases and the literary cannon built up around them. It makes for an enigmatic ending. Given the wariness the two main protagonists have for each other, this is a slow burn so some patience is necessary but Roisin’s arrival changes the colour of the piece and leaves you thinking.