Beautiful Thing

All that is needed to lift the Granary production of Beautiful Thing from the attractively ordinary to the distinguished is a…

All that is needed to lift the Granary production of Beautiful Thing from the attractively ordinary to the distinguished is a better sense of timing. Jonathan Harvey's play is set on the balcony of a housing estate one degree up from sink status; three teenagers find their way through the difficulties - in one case the cruelties - of life with the incidental assistance of the mother of one of them, played by Cal Duggan as a harridan with a heart of gold. For the boys (given intelligent sensitivity by Tom Creed and Simon Delany), consolation comes in their purposeful homosexual relationship. For Leah, whose world mixes fatalism and fantasy in equal measure, the future may be less hopeful, but Paula O'Donoghue invests the character with enough substance to justify the optimism of a soundtrack composed from The Mamas and Pappas and Mama Cass. Director Raymond Scannell uses a light hand to bring all this together; he is probably right to trust the inbuilt impetus of the piece, but the beautifully judged performance of Donal Gallagher as Tony, the toy boy who hasn't realised his true status, is a victim of that velocity. For all its comedy, Beautiful Thing is a serious piece of work, and Tony's is the role that announces its status, even in the restricted setting of this production.

Runs until June 9th; bookings on 021-4904275

Mary Leland

Mary Leland is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in culture