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After the laboured Victoriana of last year's 'The Veil', it's nice to be reminded that Conor McPherson can write sweet, funny, purely enjoyable stuff like this 2001 trio of interlocking monologues.
Stand-up comic and former 'Father Ted' star Ardal O'Hanlon is the big name in Tom Attenborough's revival. He nearly steals the show, munching whimsically on the funniest story, that of Dermot, an incompetent middle-aged accountant who has inexplicably won a job at a top Dublin firm and is now nervously waiting for reality to catch up with him.
But his co-stars hold their own: Andrew Nolan brings the puppyish, indestructible charm of youth to the role of Kevin, a twentysomething lad regaling us with a raucous tale of unrequited love for a female housemate; and wheelchair-bound veteran actor John Rogan offers rheumy poignancy to Joe, an old man who receives an unexpected missive from the married woman he chose not to pursue a lifetime ago.
They're all losers in love – and in Dermot's case, life – but they recall their experiences not with rancour but wry wit, starry-eyed wonder and the relish of a good tale properly told. It's an enjoyable production of a generous, understated play that celebrates the simple fact that above all life is there to be lived, not regretted.