Synapses – Civic Theatre – Review

We meet Mike (Liam Wilson Smyth) when he is dropping his son back to his ex-wife, Emily (Molly Downey). They are a young couple that were once very much in love, but things started to fall apart, and now they have separated. The couple cannot stand the sight of each other, and bitter words are exchanged when they are together. Mike decides that they must sort things out for the sake of their son. The two sit down in the kitchen of the house they once shared to try to find some common ground.

This is a new play written and starring Liam Wilson Smyth. Liam previously worked with Director Paul Meade on The Magic Play, which was performed in Bewley’s Cafe Theatre in August of last year. Paul Meade is the Artistic Director of Guna Nua Theatre Company, who produced the play.

The set is impressive and gives us a typical kitchen in a small suburban house. There is a door frame at one side of the stage, with a broken light switch around which much of the action takes place!

The play uses an interesting device as we get flashbacks to earlier moments spent in the same kitchen. These are scenes where the young couple were in love, but also when things started to go wrong. It gives the audience a more rounded view of the couple and shows the problems that drove them apart.

The play is very demanding of its two cast members, as there are a large number of scene changes, as we jump back to the recent past. The cast deals with numerous small set changes and also the instantaneous alterations in the nature of their relationship, as they move from being deeply in love to bitter animosity. The play talks about sex and sexuality, which is unusual for an Irish play, and is still quite taboo. The play is 80 minutes long, and it is difficult to sustain the intensity of their conversations. It may have worked better to make some small cuts and to vary the tone, but there is a lot of ambition and style in the production, which delves deep into these complex characters.

Director: Paul Meade
Writer: Liam Wilson Smyth
Cast: Molly Downey and Liam Wilson Smyth
Set: Iris Liange
Lights: Ciara Meehan
Sound: Daniel Montague O’Brien