If ever there was a play that asked its audience to pay close attention to every word, it is Brian Friel’s Faith Healer. Directed by Roger Beaumont, this production consists of four monologues that weave a gripping tale of faith, memory, and the elusive nature of truth.
The stage is set with a backdrop of a giant banner saying ‘The Fantastic Frank Hardy. Faith Healer. One Night Only’. The set changes before each monologue establish the characters’ respective spaces as they recount their versions of a shared past. The story follows Frank Hardy (David Lemkin), the titular faith healer, who travels with Grace (Sarah Sharpe), his ‘mistress’, and Teddy (David Erdos), his manager, across villages in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Frank performs supposed miracles for the locals, but whether he can genuinely heal people remains unclear. The heart of the story lies in the uncertainty of whether his gift is genuine, despite his own admission that “nothing was going to happen. Nothing at all”. As their accounts unfold, contradictions emerge, gradually revealing the events that shaped their lives and led to their tragic ends.
Lemkin’s take of Frank felt like a man plagued by doubt, putting on an act that even he struggles to believe. From the opening monologue, Lemkin commands the stage with remarkable control and composure, while allowing glimpses of the uncertainty beneath the surface. It was an immaculate performance that navigates the character’s shifting confidence, hope and despair with elegance, holding the audience’s attention throughout.
Grace’s monologue offers a different account of the events. Sharpe portrays a woman drawn repeatedly back to the flame that is Frank, despite the sacrifices and trauma their life together has brought her. Her recollections reveal glimpses of the miracles she witnessed, yet even she cannot fully explain why she stayed. Sharpe captures the emotional toll of their turbulent relationship with a deeply moving performance.
After the interval, Erdos brings the audience back into the story with a witty and animated performance as Teddy. His stories offer a welcome change of pace, but there is more to the character than his showmanship and anecdotes. Beneath the humour is a man who has spent years building his life around Frank and his supposed gift. As his monologue progresses, the tone darkens, revealing the loneliness and personal cost of being part of their travelling act, reflecting on loyalty, loss and regret. Erdos handles this shift particularly well, moving from comedy to something far more sombre without losing the audience along the way.
Lemkin returns for the final monologue, bringing the story towards its tragic conclusion. Rather than offering definitive answers, Frank’s final reflections suggest a quiet surrender to the forces that have governed his life, leaving the audience to contemplate the fine line between faith, chance and illusion.
The three seasoned performers carry this production through its two-hour-and-twenty-minute runtime with compelling conviction. However, there were moments where the storytelling felt a bit slow. The reliance on the performances and words allowed them to shine but also caused bit of a loss in momentum. A little more variation in lighting or sound might have helped maintain the tension without taking away from the simplicity of the production.
Faith Healer is a testament to the power of storytelling and performance. While the pacing may occasionally test the audience’s attention, Beaumont’s direction allows the three actors to bring their own perspectives to the story. It is a production that rewards patience, drawing you into the lives of its characters and leaving you with plenty to think about long after the final words are spoken.
Playing until 24th October, https://questors.org.uk/event/faith-healer/
Reviewer: Prateek Sonny
Reviewed: 16th October 2026
North West End UK Rating: