On A House Like A Fire – Bewley’s Cafe Theatre – Review
by Frank L

On A House Like A Fire – written and performed by Michelle Read
Music by Brian Keegan – May 20th – June 8th, 2024 at 1pm

For this production, writer and performer Michelle Read combines with set designer Ellen Kirk and composer Brian Keegan. The music haunts and evokes. It creates a mental image of times past. We hear the words of a woman now dead, as Michelle evokes memories of her mother.

Read begins by projecting onto the back wall an old map of the Suffolk coast beginning with Lowestoft and working northwards naming the various habitations – names such as Great Yarmouth, Cromer and Blakeney. She also refers to a woman born in 1943 – a war baby. That is Read’s mother. Initially, she is referred to as a woman but as Read’s memories become those of an adolescent she names the woman as Margaret. Through a variety of objects such as a laundry tongs and a polyfilla tub, we learn a great deal about the daily routine of Margaret’s life. We learn of her foibles, her accomplishments and her gradual decline. The various artefacts inspire memories. Read brings the viewer on an engaging journey into her past but in the process, she stirs memories of the viewer’s own past. The memory is stimulated and as the programme states “We hope you find it uplifting and make connections to your own important fragments and glimpses of memory”.

There are no histrionics and when Margaret speaks, Read moves effortlessly into a Suffolk accent and patois. The images projected on the back wall intensify the sense of being in another time and era. It is a loyal and loving portrayal by Read of Margaret who the audience comes to love as she moves from a romantic young girl to the stage where the ravages of the years take their toll.

In its honesty and simplicity, it enchants as it pays tribute to the value of memory however incomplete at times. Originally created for the Bealtaine Festival 2021, it toured Ireland in 2022 and 2023. It is a magical trip into the world of memory.

CAST AND CREW:

WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY: Michelle Read
MUSIC COMPOSED BY: Brian Keegan
SET DESIGN: Ellen Kirk and House Like a Fire productions
LIGHTING: Eoin Winning
PHOTOGRAPHY: Shane McCarthy