Bríd Brennan, Liz White and extra impress in Deborah Bruce’s hanging new drama Dixon and Daughters on the National Theatre
“I come in peace”
Dixon and Daughters arrives on the Dorfman in a co-production between the National Theatre and Clean Break and emerges as a fairly surprising factor, a hanging new drama of actual intrigue. Deborah Bruce’s play clocks in at simply 90 minutes and as such, whips up its ambiance of disquiet and dysfunctional with actual tempo and ability.
Bríd Brennan’s Mary has returned dwelling after three months in jail and treading on eggshells, her household has gathered to welcome her again. Daughters Bernie and Julie, the latter having moved in to flee an abusive associate, and granddaughter Ella are met with Mary’s new friend-from-inside Leigh who’s coming to remain and so they all finally settle all the way down to some type of truce.
But when Mary’s stepdaughter Briana, previously often called Tina, turns up on the door, even that uneasy peace is shattered. For there’s household secrets and techniques aplenty right here, revealed in painstaking element in a measured method, many centring on the deceased patriarch of the household, his legacy looming over the household even from the native cemetery.
Róisín McBrinn’s manufacturing is fantastically poised, comfy in withholding info but suggesting the innate unease by the textures of Paule Constable’s lighting and Sinéad Diskin’s sound which ship their surprises on Kat Heath’s split-level set. And the powerhouse forged achieve this properly at uncovering the trauma that lies on the coronary heart of a lot of their ache, Liz White and Alison Fitzjohn actually impressing.