Reunion – Kiln Theatre
This is a tough one. A storm-weathered family convenes on “an island off the west coast of Ireland,” and all hell—less so breaks than steadily chips loose. En route from the Galway International Arts Festival, this production of Mark O’Rowe’s Reunion much like its island setting, holds a captive audience.
Its dialogue is natural and intriguing, and O’Rowe resists the kitchen sink dramatist’s persistent impulse to make his characters as mean as possible. A perfectly gender-split cast of five and five places surprising emphasis on its female characters’ internality, relegating its men to timorous punchlines at best (in the case of Stephen Brennan’s adorably addlepated Felix) and tremendous encumbrances at worst (in the case of Ian-Lloyd Anderson’s incredibly effectively irritating Aonghus...