Robin and Dawn – Bewley’s Cafe Theatre – Review
by Frank L.

Robin and Dawn – Written by Michael Hilliard Mulcahy

Dawn (Roseanna Purcell) is a forty-one year old married woman. She lives somewhere on the West Coast near a mountainous region. She explains that she has no children and how her mother has little sympathy for her, as the mother claims that Dawn left it “too late”. Her husband Robin (John Cronin), to whom she has been married for many years, has always been into his music. As a young man, he cut a romantic figure. Now he travels around to small venues in remote places playing odd gigs. It has been his life. He gets back home late at night or in the early hours of the morning, while she gets up and goes to work. They have imperceptibly grown apart. Robin is tormented by a vision he saw while returning home from a gig. It was in the small hours of the morning on a remote, uninhabited, mountainous road not often travelled. In the gloomy darkness, he saw the funeral procession of a child which had taken place a long time ago. The images of that funeral procession torment him.

The play takes the form of successive monologues.  Starting with Dawn, each character reveals what is playing on their mind. In the case of Dawn, it is the failure to be a mother, and why Robin comes home exceedingly late each night. Her fears are given full rein. The apparition which Robin saw on the mountainous road plays continuously on his mind. It torments him. So much so that he has smashed up a guitar. In short, what brought them together as young lovers many years ago has dwindled to almost nothing as they face into their forties. They have attempted counselling, but it was to no avail.

Purcell’s monologues set the pace. She, with empathy, draws you into the loneliness of her world. No kids, no substantive relationship with her mother and little relationship with the man with whom she has grown apart through force of circumstance. She is still relatively young and has her hopes and fears, and these conflicting emotions Purcell conveys with considerable skill. She is vulnerable, and she generates a need for empathy. Cronin’s Robin is a considerably more damaged character, as he has led an irregular existence, playing gigs here and there in and around the vicinity. There is little structure to support him mentally. The apparition of the child’s funeral on the mountainous road has had a profoundly disturbing effect on him. Cronin reveals the brittle loneliness of his world as he struggles to understand what he saw on the mountain. Purcell and Cronin are entirely credible as each reveals their loneliness.

This challenging story is complemented by the haunting sounds created by HK ni Shioradain. It adds to the sense of being alone, which both Dawn and Robin are experiencing.

The set is simple, with the most prominent feature a smashed guitar suspended on the back wall. It is symbolic of dreams shattered. This is a haunting piece of theatre, more serious than one might expect at lunchtime. It is executed with great theatrical strength and insight, which ensures that your time is well spent.