Cailíní – a kitchen gathering of kindred spirits becomes a beautifully uncomfortable sister act (ABLAZE Productions at Lyric Theatre)

Cailíní.
Noun. Young, unmarried women.

A handful of siblings gather in the old home kitchen. Not everyone is expected. Not everyone is welcome. And if there’s tension in the air when they arrive, an hour or two later, the mercury’s still rising as one by one they flee the cauldron of conflict.

There’s the older sister Katherine (played by Lily Kate Hearns) who felt she was taken for granted bringing up her younger siblings and now works in London. There’s a younger sister Úna (Íde Simpson) who feels she’s now being taken advantage of caring for the youngest one and her alcohol saturated father. There’s another one, Clodagh (Megan Doherty) who escaped with a handsome lad Eamonn (Séan McDermott) who’s been hanging around the family for a decade but wasn’t always her boyfriend.

Then there’s the youngest Annie (Éabha Hayes) who can’t escape as she’s still another year to complete at school. And just when you think everyone is accounted for, there’s another older half-sister Mairead (Juliet Hill) who turns out to be universally disliked because that’s the rule even though not everyone can remember why. All the while, an unseen, unheard and, for a long time, unexplained father lurks upstairs casting a dark shadow over the household.

Cailíní explores the strength of the bonds between the sisters: anything can be shared, but secrets are still kept. The play shies away from trite notions of happy families and instead explores just how raw and fractious relationships could become between one’s kin.

Over 80 minutes, there are some laugh out loud moments, and more than a few jaw dropping scenes where you’ll stare at the stage and roll your eyes in amazement. A smart speaker manages to completely steal two scenes. But mostly, your gut will be churning with the waves of discomfort that waft off the conversations that take place on Emmett Brady Dunne’s set which features a large kitchen and a small garden to one side with steps and a wooden bench.

Conor Bustos’ lighting design steers the audience’s focus between the two spaces – one scene nicely picks out snippets of animated dialogue from both – and throws in some great side lighting. An overture of answering machine messages lays the foundation for Mahon clan who are about to flood through the door. Later, a not-so-private text message opens up a new front of distrust.

Written as a final year degree project at Trinity College Dublin, the quality of Íde Simpson (an alumnus of Fighting Words NI) and Beth Strahan’s storytelling and their manipulation of characters across the threads of the plot impress. While there are a few moments when the voices in the kitchen seem to be raised more loudly than necessary – almost hysterical without sufficient cause – overall, the balance of dark, brooding menace and malice is very well executed. Beth Strahan’s direction enjoys allowing deafening silences to develop in the highly strung household. Audiences are kept on the back foot with a drip-drip revelation of pertinent details that will eventually fill out most of the backstory of the six characters in this intense, raging, family melodrama. Though you need to pay attention at all times as some of the key moments (particular a later interaction between Eamonn and Úna) are quite fleeting.

The quality of the production bodes well for the future careers of the cast and creatives. It’s great to see new work of this scale being performed in Belfast; particularly when so few theatrical productions, large or small, tour north/south.

If you like your drama dark and foreboding, then check to see if any seats have become available in the final four sold-out performances of ABLAZE Production’s Cailíní that finishes its run at the Lyric Theatre on Sunday 6 May.

Photo credits: Martina Perone and Connie McGowan (bottom two promotional images not reflective of the set or costumes in the Belfast production)

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