Last night’s offering at The Old Fire Station in Oxford was a staged reading of new play East Mayo, written by Killian Burke and directed by John Retallack. Brought to the stage as part of Oxford Platforms, a supplement to Retallack’s Oxford Playwriting Course, East Mayo is an unexpected, darkly funny tale of two brothers living in an uncared for, dilapidated bungalow on the outskirts of town, and a secret brought to them by a young woman; a secret that might just change all of their lives.
This is Burke’s third full-length play, with his first, Ballymaclinton, having reached the final 10% of the Soho Theatre’s Verity Bargate Award (for new writing) as well as coming as a runner-up in the Scriptwriters & Co. International Festival in 2023. Based in London, but originally from Ireland, Burke is currently on his third year of the Oxford Playwriting Course. East Mayo demonstrates that he is honing his already incredible talent in the craft, with well-drawn, complex characters at the core of the narrative and an outlandish concept that, due to the skilled handling of the dialogue and action by both writer and director, doesn’t come across quite as peculiar as it might in less capable hands.
The words on the page were brought to life with remarkable performances by the equally talented cast of four. The play opens with Narrator (Renata Allen, an alum of Oxford Platforms) describing the scene, while a severely hungover Pine, played by Ed Rowett (also previously seen in an Oxford Platforms staged reading (The Agency), slumps in the rotting bungalow, comatose after (yet again, it seems) falling off the wagon. He is eventually woken up by his brother Mink (Oliver Gomm) a wired and entrepreneurial drug dealer who despite being the younger sibling, swoops in to try and fix Pine’s transgressions and chivvy him (rather aggressively) out of his self-pitying state. Through their initial dialogue it’s clear to see the turbulent relationship they have with each other, and with the small town in the eponymous part of Ireland in which they reside. A knock on the door surprises them both, and we are introduced to Val (Laura Brady) who brings with her a discovery and an idea that she needs Pine’s expert help with, but that could be a way of finally making their escape.
As I write this I want to go into the intricate details of the play’s narrative but also don’t wish to give too much away. While there is a stolen work of art at the heart of the action, it seems reductive to sum the play up by calling it a madcap heist. There are so many other elements involved which culminate in a uniquely funny and intense piece of theatre. Within 5 minutes I had forgotten this was a staged reading, oblivious to the riffling of scripts, because I was fully engaged and invested in the story and how on earth the different factors of it were going to play out.
The combination of outstanding, believable performances and superior writing transcended the need for fancy lighting, staging and costumes and I was genuinely agog as the performance came to its climactic end. With themes of family, fate, beauty and art set against a bleak backdrop of addiction, and the persistence of small town gossip, East Mayo is like nothing I have ever seen before. Which is not a bad accolade at all!