Everything Between Us

The personal is the political in this brutally comic two-hander about truth and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, which sees a landmark meeting at Stormont thrown into chaos.

After 11 years away, Teeni (Claire Lamont) has a lot of explaining to do. Unfortunately for her sister Sandra, a politician whose star is in ascendance, she has chosen to announce her homecoming by assaulting the South African chairperson of a brand-new commission and hurling racist abuse.

Playwright David Ireland has been building an impressive back-catalogue of short comedies over the past few years and this is his most accomplished to date. Everything Between Us is a punchy, gripping addition to the collection of explosive Troubles plays that includes Martin McDonagh’s Lieutenant of Inishmore and Andrew Doyle's Borderland.

In a sense it’s just a bit more daring, as Teeni is a repellant wildcat from the very first syllable. Rather than beginning with humanising craic and unpeeling layers to reveal psychological damage, Ireland starts with vitriol, violence and mania and works backwards. It might seem a bit far-fetched and cartoonish to those who have never met a Teeni, but Ireland knows exactly what he’s doing and offers an unsparing, messy account of self-destruction.

A bold work like this depends on excellent performances, and Lamont and Tara Lynne O’Neill certainly deliver. While the former’s physical tics are perhaps just a shade too exaggerated in the opening scene, Kathleen Akerley’s direction is otherwise unobtrusive and the timing throughout is spot-on. This isn’t a knockabout comedy full of easy laughs – in the end, humour gives way to horror - but there are some superb jokes and brilliantly absurd reflections on omniplexes, Alcoholics Anonymous and Nelson Mandela.

This is a thrilling, hugely ambitious play that deserves to be playing to full houses. It is competing for attention at the Tron this week and has a 9.30pm start time, but it’s certainly worth staying up late to catch.