Playing Houses

Like much of his previous work, Martin O’Connor’s Playing Houses explores 21st century masculinity through monologue.

And yet this is a bold step forward for the writer-director. Whereas Reality, his 2007 piece for Glasgay, saw him perform three linked monologues, Glasgay/Arches co-comission Playing Houses is O’Connor’s first full-length play and the first to feature actors other than himself.

It’s the warm, sticky evening of the Big Brother final. Neither deserted mother Sandra (Vivien Grahame) nor her three sons have been keeping up with this series but they’ll each watch the spectacle from their own rooms – that is, until their hitherto AWOL father makes an appearance.

The scenario functions as a springboard from which to investigate four experiences of gender - or five, if you count that of Da, whose absence gives him a kind of all-pervasive presence.

Sandra feels washed up at 36, oldest son Wee Andy (Jordan McCurrach) is facing fatherhood himself, Michael (Neil Leiper) has been involved in a homophobic attack and confused youngster Sean (plucky newcomer Scott Fletcher) attempts to solve his problems through daytime TV. All are searching for validation and belonging; something not afforded them either outside or inside the home where Kirsty McCabe’s simple, four-piece set solidifies their separateness.

Indeed, the only occasions where the monologues threaten to give way to dialogue are fatally frustrated: the four literally cannot communicate with each other. As well as touching on the capriciousness of popular culture and the superficiality of online connectedness, the tension here never suffocates the humour, nor does that humour detract from the piece’s gravity.

O’Connor’s growth as a writer makes for consistently compelling viewing, and here he also offers a climax that few will see coming.

A version of this review first appeared in The Herald.