Mary Massacre @ Viking Theatre

"The only thing constant is change" Jekyll sings in the ever changing musical Jekyll & Hyde. It is one the joys of theatre that it does. During it's original London run Sunset Boulevard closed for changes to be made, then reopened. Then there is Chess, forever being amended, song locations moving as much as the set. So when asked to take another look at the play Mary Massacre, I decided to go. This time it would be in the intimate setting of The Viking Theatre, recently featured on RTE's Morning Ireland.

Through short runs, and scheduling, it can be difficult to see a show again, due to how much theatre there is to see, which is brilliant and long may it last. With the number of local theatres dotted around like The Viking, The Civic, The Helix to name very few, not to mention the many wonderful regional theatres all over the country, these productions have a chance to tour and live again, while adapting to the new spaces. When the chance does arrive it is a good thing to go, reminding you that theatre is organic rather than fixed.

I saw the Irish premiere of Mary Massacre back in October. It tells the tale of two different women, Jenny who is married, hates silence and likes her wine and vodka (not together thankfully) played by Jenn McGuirk with a resigned 'this is the way it is now' feeling, while never mentioning a certain name as mistakes were made and 'the past is the past'. The hurt is held in check deep inside, rather than coiled up and close to the surface and about to be unleashed on the world, giving her a more vulnerable and sympathetic side, even though her life and marriage isn't working anymore in the tidy, laminated floored house that feels more Homebase than IKEA. 

The smaller stage of the Viking is split down the middle, where the laminated meets the brown, thin carpet of Leyla's more crumpled looking apartment, clothes hanging on an exposed rail. Leyla has turned 30 and single, which she observes at one point, is just as bad as being married in trying to come to terms with the new fish she has virtually landed via internet dating sites. He suggests they meet. This leads her, him and Jenny to the Marymass fair in Scotland, the week being counted down through dialogue and one of those desktop calenders that you tear off each day, sporting a quote or some such on it. Caroline O'Boyle's Leyla is a bubbly person, a little bit anxious as her twitching fingers on one hand shows, but she does get the most comedy lines and delivers them well, giving the audience time to enjoy it. Then the fortune teller shows up giving McGuirk a delightful, wonderful moment. 

Johnny McKnight's script is very witty and observational, looking at the quirks of modern life, with the ability to make you think it is going one way and then twisting itself another. In this production it moves along at a sprightly pace, tightened up from before, perhaps trimmed a little as well, but without any lag value. The first scene set in Argos did feel a little rushed, taking Jenny's own advice and taking a breath would have helped, but it soon sorts itself out and overall the piece feels more at ease in its skin, not as heavy, losing a little tension perhaps, but telling the story through the characters. All this no doubt helped by consulting director Aoife Spillane-Hinks. 

The staging and Marie Tierney's set is stripped back, as you would expect in a touring production and not always a bad thing, although some of the projections from the past did add a little something to it. In many ways, the focus stays on the dialogue and the characters, all building to a controlled final, emotional scene, something that personifies itself through McGuirk's eyes, which is always good. The flickering light to depict the TV on didn't achieve the effect they hoped, and the original, nicely melodic score by Donal McPartlin really only comes in at the end, with an original song by McPartlin and Cai, the latter also singing on it, which does work in the moment well and hearing a fuller version would be interesting. But that is simply my thought or maybe curiosity, rather than a criticism. As it is, it works well in the context.

It is a different, lighter, experience this time round, but it is a curious piece in itself that has a lot of laughs along the way but with a punch to it (despite the cheap Tesco vodka) and at a pacy running time this is well worth a look in this pared back, maybe less tension filled, but solid, enjoyable and funny play.