Four Funerals and a Wedding artwork.In ‘Celebrant’, broken up into six separate parts, we witness the unraveling of an endearingly cheery reverend at a parish church. In ‘Morris’, a man and woman bond over a car. In ‘The Tree’, the two sisters reunite at their mother’s funeral. In ‘Penguin Protest Party’, three penguins investigate a suspicious newcomer in the Antarctic. In ‘Something ‘bout you, baby’, a frazzled father tries to convince his daughter not to do a runner on her wedding day. In ‘Saint or Sinner’, a mother and daughter receive a phone call from their husband and father from the afterlife.
The different plays were unconnected by story or characters, but all followed a similar theme, as suggested by the title, around death, confronting endings, and the passage of time. Each one was short and snappy, usually consisting of a single encounter and conversation between a pair or a small group, interspersed by the reverend addressing the audience in a sermon as if we were attending his congregation.
With a minimalist set and a company of six actors who rotated between roles, it was an intimate, close-quarters production. Dry, gallows humour permeated each short play, which were characterised by varying degrees of morbidity and poignancy. ‘Morris’ and ‘Something ‘bout you, baby’ were both the most wholesome and sweet of the line-up, while ‘The Tree’ was chilling and clever in the way it set up a harrowing twist in such a short amount of time. ‘Penguin Protest Party’ and ‘Saint or Sinner’ were the most political in their messaging, but not in an overly sanctimonious way, nor in a way that undermined their humour.
Of the line-up, ‘Celebrant’ was the one that least gripped my attention, perhaps because it was a one-man show and what I enjoyed most about the other pieces was watching unique characters play off each other - though I found myself warming up to the reverend as he slowly lost his grip on his convictions. ‘Penguin Protest Party’ was hands-down my favourite, both for its absurdist comedy and the delightful pun of a detective penguin named ‘Sherlock Igloos’.
The cast all shone, conveying human emotion without falling into melodrama and delivering impeccable comedic timing, but special props goes to Edmund Dehn, who showed staggering and convincing range across his characters, from the ominous Desmond in ‘Penguin Protest Party’ to the doddering but well-meaning Colin in ‘Something ‘bout you, baby’. Karen McCaffrey was also brilliant as the child-like but terrifying Martha in ‘The Tree’.
I wondered, initially, whether the play might have worked better, or at least more cohesively if the stories had been connected somehow, but perhaps the point was simply to show disjointed snapshots of human existence. The end result was clever, funny, and moving all at once.
Four Funerals and a Wedding is at the Bread and Roses Theatre until 4 October.
