Last Train From Holyhead | Teacher's Club

Star Rating: 4/5

Out of Time Theatre Company presents: "Last Train From Holyhead" by Bernard Field

T36 @ The Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square
July 16th - 28th, 2012 @ 8pm
Tickets: €15/€12 conc, Mondays/Saturday Matinees €10

Last Train from Holyhead is a great offering running this week at the Teacher's Club, Parnell Square, Dublin 1. The Bernard Field play, produced by Out of Time Theatre Company, brings us on a train journey shared by three strangers, who discover they have much more in common than they thought possible.

It opens with the three meeting in a carriage waiting to depart from Holyhead after catching the late night boat over from Ireland. A bottle of whiskey and some poker help pass the time and loosen them up, to the point where long-held secrets soon come back to haunt them.

This intimate little show has a lot of great moments - what it lacks in scale, it makes up for in emotion. It touches on themes that are by now well-worn in Irish theatre, but it handles them with an insight and pace that is thoroughly enjoyable.

Dave Duffy, who many will recognise as Leo from Fair City, delivers a stand-out performance as Jack, the elderly business who enjoys his banter as much as his whiskey. When this play debuted three years ago, this role was originally played by the great, late, Mick Lally, and Duffy can be satisfied that he's done such a fine job with the character. He's so good that, at times, it's hard for the other two cast members to hold their own against the seasoned veteran.

But Stephen Gorman, who plays crafty schemer, Pat, and Deirdre Jones, here as the gypsy, both rise to the occasion as the plot unravels, and, as the tension grows, so do their performances. Gorman, however, while giving a decent showing, is much too young for the role he plays here. But Jones gives an entertaining turn as the worldly gypsy, who knows more than she wants to reveal.

As it reaches its climax, it becomes clear this is a story which leaves the audience saddened more by its familiarity but told in a way that engages and involves throughout.

Story by EI Team | 09:00 | Monday 23rd July 2012 | Theatre

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