The Cave – Abbey Theatre – Review

Dates: 6 June – 18 July 2025
Photos by Ros Kavanagh

The Cave tells the story of two brothers.  We meet Bopper (Aaron Monaghan) and Archie (Tommy Tiernan) as they emerge early morning from the Cave they’ve been living in on Zion Hill, County Sligo. The McRae brothers grew up in the area and are familiar with the locality. Over the course of the play, we hear elements of their lives and try to piece together how they came to this point.

This is a new play by Limerick-born writer Kevin Barry, who came to prominence in recent years for novels such as City of Bohane and the 2019 Booker long-listed Night Boat to Tangier. He had also written several plays, including Autumn Royal and There Are Little Kingdoms.

We see a relatively simple set by Joanna Parker, with the entrance to the Cave and the hill behind it.  There is the scattered detritus of their lives outside the Cave, with a generator, their van and a barrel. Their material possessions are few, and their lives are reduced to a series of simple themes: their need for Wi-Fi, their obsession with a Netflix actress, and their frequent interactions with a Garda called Helen (Judith Roddy) who is urging them to leave the cave, but do they have anywehre else to go?

The play is heavy with rich and dark humour, as the two cave dwellers live their simple existence.  They are not sophisticated folk, and their lives are much reduced by their surroundings. The scourge of mental illness is mentioned, and it explains how they can’t escape their new existence.

Kevin Barry’s gift of colloquial language is in evidence, as the idioms and lilt of their local tongue create humour from the simplest of situations. He can generate a laugh out of nothing, as the audience is brought through this barren world.

The casting of Aaron Monaghan and Tommy Tiernan as this abject couple works extremely well.  You can feel the depravity in which they exist.  The two sling insults at each other, but there is a sense that they are inseparable; their chances of a normal existence have long since passed.  Judith Roddy plays well against their bravado and is heavily involved in the plot, offering Archie a chance of redemption.  While there is no strong story arc, instead it’s a fascinating portrayal of the depths to which we can fall. It’s as strong a piece of new work as we’ve seen on the Abbey stage in recent years.

Credits
Bopper: Aaron Monaghan
Helen: Judith Roddy
Archie: Tommy Tiernan
With the voice of: Carina Gabilondo

Writer: Kevin Barry
Director: Caitríona McLaughlin
Set and Costume Designer: Joanna Parker
Lighting Designer: Stephen Dodd
Sound Designer and Composer: Sinéad Diskin
Video Design: Mike Dunne
Dramaturg: Ruth McGowan
Hair and Make Up: Leonard Daly
Director of Voice and Actor Development: Andrea Ainsworth
Casting Director: Barry Coyle
Assistant Director: Éadaoin Fox