Becoming Maggie
Eva-Jane Gaffney in Becoming Maggie. Image, Al Craig.
***
In Donagh Humphreys problematic Becoming Maggie the prejudice, pretensions and personalities of a local drama society provide predictable comedic fodder. Suggesting an elephant’s graveyard of unfulfilled talent where could have beens, should have beens, has beens and those who never would be relive former dreams whilst rehearsing John B. Keane’s Big Maggie. Festering somewhere between vanity and insecurity, passion and pretension, each character is a first class failure dealing in second hand hope. As troubles stew more than brew, it all trots towards its inevitable conclusion. Back by popular demand, structurally, Becoming Maggie is a long, slow, drawn out car crash. Yet rarely has a car crash felt so wonderfully adorable, due entirely to its three charismatic performances.
Suggesting another screenwriter writing for the stage, Humphreys leans into cinematic conventions rather than theatrical, relying on linked scenes passed off as story. The whole topped and tailed by fourth wall breaking monologues to set up and wrap up, as if the play doesn’t trust itself, or its audience, to get it. The opportunity for the story to organically unfold lost to verbal explanations that place the dramatic pot on medium heat and leave it stew rather than boil by not jumping into the action. Which occurs mostly during rehearsals in the local community hall, with brief visits to a bedroom and an apartment. Throughout, life coach and director, Bren-dawn, and his disillusioned and oddly uninformed wife, Jen, rehearse with newby Shane. As Brendan’s madcap directing demeans them both and makes the case for intimacy coaches, their affection for each other grows. But both broken winged creatures are currently incapable of flight. As it all falls unconvincingly apart, it stumbles toward a contrived, girl power ending that feels like a cheat, leaving the bittersweet taste of being sold short.
Jed Murray in Becoming Maggie. Image, Al Craig.
Despite some genuinely funny lines, Becoming Maggie frequently falls from the tightrope Humphreys unsuccessfully tries to walk, creating tensions director Andy Crook never resolves. Its three actors looking as if they’re in two separate plays. One a broad comedy with a pantomime antagonist, the other a dramatic comedy with naturalist tendencies. In which low hanging jokes and an unfleshed story make for big asks. Especially Jen. A clever woman believing working in commercials the glamorous side of professional theatre? Anyone, actor or otherwise, can work in commercials and everyone remotely connected to theatre knows that. Then there’s Jen’s undeveloped past and unexplained character flips in key scenes instead of a character arc leaving much to be desired. Never mind what she ever saw in Brendan who has no redeeming qualities. Luckily Crook elicits three compelling performances, even if they’re for two incompatible genres.
Whilst Jed Murray turns in a compelling comic turn as the dapper dressed Brendan, a monument to egoism who sees the universe designed to meet his needs, Brendan’s cartoon portrait denies the production real force by hobbling Murray’s considerable talent at shaping compelling and credible characters. Glimpsed in moments when flickers of menace or self doubt haunt the eyes, revealing real human depths before Murray is quickly forced to don his pantomime mask. Shane O’Regan in the unenviable role of Shane, a pony-tailed, thirty something with pubescent level maturity, makes a sterling effort to straddle Crooks questionable marriage of pantomime and naturalism. O’Regan mesmerising when grounded in the real, less credible when forced into exaggeration. Terrific when playing next to a transcendent Eva-Jane Gaffney, whose imminent presence and photogenic features allow Jen, a plain Jane with hidden depths, convey a plethora of secret states that fill in the script's countless blanks. Gaffney’s star quality enriching every scene, elevating the whole, and promising greater things to come.
Shane O'Regan and Eva-Jane Gaffney in Becoming Maggie. Image, Al Craig.
Like an in-joke, Becoming Maggie sings to the dramatic society choir who are sure to appreciate its recognisable references. Yet there’s a funny, heartfelt story here with broader appeal looking to break free. If it doesn’t fully deliver on its promise, Becoming Maggie compensates with three incredible performances. Murray showing impressive comic skill, O’Regan displaying impressive talent, and a luminously irresistible Eva-Jane Gaffney, whose expressions alone launch a thousand possibilities.
Becoming Maggie by Donagh Humphreys runs at The New Theatre until March 7.
For more information visit The New Theatre
