Elysium Nevada – Bewley’s Cafe Theatre – Review
by Frank L.

Elysium Nevada – Written by Barry McKinley
Dates: May 4th – 30th

Elysium Nevada premiered in 2010 and was nominated for the Irish Times Best New Play Award. This timely new production reminds us just how relevant the play remains. In the intervening years, as the elderly population has steadily increased, the nursing home — euphemistically described in many different ways — has become an ever greater social challenge. Here, the chosen term is “Elysium”, whose primary meaning, according to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, is “the abode assigned to the blessed after death in Greek mythology”, with the secondary figurative sense of “a place or state of ideal happiness”. In this instance, however, the establishment is situated in the Mojave Desert in Nevada, enduring blistering temperatures — an unlikely setting for a home for the elderly. The stage is bare apart from a projection on the back wall of a desert landscape dominated by an enormous cactus.

Slowly rolling onto the stage in a wheelchair is Mike (Mark O’Regan), wearing dark glasses. He is followed by Bob (Michael James Ford) and Constance (Bairbre Ní Chaoimh), similarly attired. They position their wheelchairs facing the audience, with Constance slightly apart from the other two. Mike and Bob begin to complain about the heat, their young and feckless carers, and the complete absence of a single cloud in the sky. They are a classic pair of curmudgeons. Constance takes no part in their musings. She occasionally puts on or removes her oxygen mask. Mike and Bob ignore her until Mike touches her ever so lightly. At that moment, the dynamic shifts. The memory of each character becomes uncertain as they struggle to establish a fact or two. Bewilderment reigns supreme.

McKinley gives Bob and Mike a fine text through which to air their grievances. Ford and O’Regan, with excellent timing, keep the audience constantly amused as they rail against the limitations of their confined world. Their existence is far removed from any notion of “ideal happiness”, yet it is highly entertaining. Ní Chaoimh, meanwhile, has a splendid role, creating a new dynamic that completely upends the certainties of Bob and Mike. Her presence turns everything on its head.

As someone who falls within the age group on which the play focuses, I found that it gently and comically gives voice to the fears and obsessions that begin to dominate the mind in later life. McKinley has created a comedy — albeit one with a dark edge — in which three elderly people occupy centre stage. Beneath the comedy lies something far more unsettling: the gradual erosion of certainty, memory and self. Ford, O’Regan and Ní Chaoimh capture this with impressive delicacy and wit. Elysium Nevada is very funny, but its laughter echoes into darker territory long after the lights go down.

CAST AND CREW​

WRITTEN BY:Barry McKinley

FEATURING:Michael James Ford, Bairbre Ní Chaoimh and Mark O’Regan

DIRECTED BY:Liam Halligan

SET DESIGN:Martin Cahill

COSTUME DESIGN:Bairbre Ní Chaoimh

LIGHTING DESIGN:Colm Maher

SOUND DESIGN:Ewan Cowley

GRAPHIC DESIGN:Gavin Doyle