Paddy Goes To Petra

Brendan Dunlea in Áine Ryan's Paddy Goes To Petra. Image by Steve Gregson

***

Wherever you go, there you are. Whether holidaying in Ballybunion, enjoying threesomes in Marrakech, or finding yourself in a cave in Petra, there’s no escaping what you’re running away from. Paddy and Eilish, together by habit, find themselves separated by grief. Couch surfing the world to get away from the farm, the memories, and to salvage what remains of their threadbare marriage following the death of a son. Aine Ryan’s lopsided, one man meditation, Paddy Goes To Petra, landing somewhere between a cozy afternoon TV programme for those of an older persuasion, and a thrilling interrogation of an older man with nothing left to lose except himself. One steeped in the belief, unconsciously at least, that behind every moderately interesting man there's a far more interesting woman.

Inspired by Ryan’s solo visit in 2018 to the jewel of Jordan, there’s an overwhelming sense of a younger sensibility being imposed on an older model. The cuckolded Paddy living a lifestyle alien to many of his age and rural background being a curious juxtaposition. If Brendan Dunlea’s Paddy talks the talk of a sexually tolerant, international couch surfer, he walks the walk of an innocent who couldn’t find porn on the internet. But we play along, due in no small part to Dunlea’s soft spoken ease, more Grandad than great adventurer. Dunlea’s Paddy an honest, decent farmer you’d happily share a pint with. But just the one, before he bores you to death with his meandering, ‘sure would you credit it” tone whether talking of affairs, suicide, or wise Bedouin tour guides. Paddy regaling about his wife's sexual adventures like a man realising a bottle of milk cost more than a euro, stretching credibility even as it heightens his emotional numbness and risks Eilish being the more interesting character. The payoff Paddy's soft despair, which slips beneath the guard like an assassin’s blade. Ryan's simple “what ifs” proving powerful, even if she doesn’t do them justice. What if I stopped wandering and stayed here, alone, in Petra, facing my demons? What if I stopped letting Eilish call the shots? Ryan's smart meditations on the male psyche in pain building towards a denouement of terror only to cop out with a claptrap ending. One opting for a status quo, bow and ribbon wrap up, like a warm buttered scone. Making Paddy Goes To Petra another nicely, nicely, afternoon TV programme to be forgotten as soon as you switch channels.

If thematically adventurous, theatrically Paddy Goes To Petra proves far less so. Ryan’s direction competent, even as other characters are reduced to signature gestures. Yet she never really develops Paddy and lets him, and herself, off scot free by the end. Constance Comparot’s sheeted set cleverly evoking Petra’s dusted facade and carpets, with Colm Maher’s lights, originally designed by Alex Corey, adding tone, texture and temperature. Even if some overly long musical interludes by Cáit Ní Riain & Eyal Arad overplay lights for trying to over emphasise atmosphere. Yet again Pamela McQueen raises questions about the role of the dramaturg. As storytelling theatre, Paddy Goes To Petra plays like an abridged novel being read aloud, its weak ending dissolving like an emotional slow puncture with too many things, structurally, allowed go unchallenged, like Eilish eclipsing Paddy as the more interesting character. Things that might have elevated this from a cozy afternoon by the fireside into a singularly interesting work, leaving us with a nice play rather than the great one it might have been.

The Jordanian tourist board might be a little disappointed given you leave with fractionally more information about Petra and its people than when you came in. And with no great desire to visit. Yet Ryan’s sketched details prove hugely successful in conveying Petra as Paddy’s emotional Shangri-La. Quaint, charming, its hard questions might get smoothed down, or walked away from, but Paddy Goes To Petra has moments of genuine insight as it explores an older man's struggle with emotional pain. The generous would say middle aged. Like most of its target audience. A darling of the London pub scene, Paddy Goes To Petra marries an understated performance with a refreshingly ambitious character study to make for a delightful afternoon of theatre. It might not deliver on all its promises, but it signals Ryan as a writer to watch.

Paddy Goes To Petra by Áine Ryan, presented by Bewley’s Café Theatre with Studio Perform, runs at Bewley’s Café Theatre until Nov 23.

For more information visit Bewley’s Café Theatre