Heaven – Southwark Playhouse
Of all the events in the social calendar, there are few with such potential to cause rifts, drama, and an onslaught of confusing emotions as a family wedding. In Eugene O’Brien’s Heaven, it’s this event that offers us a lens through which to observe the floundering marriage of long-time spouses Mal (Andrew Bennett) and Mairead (Janet Moran).
While both characters are featured throughout, we never see them interact, instead hearing their differing accounts of Mairead’s sister’s wedding through a series of alternating monologues in which both characters speak candidly to the audience.
As well as painting a colourful picture of the wedding, dancefloor scraps and dodgy speeches included, Mairead and Mal give the audience highly personal and often vulnerable insights into their lives and ...