Reunion
Kiln Theatre, London
★★★

THERE’s something joyful about the theatre when all it asks of you is to be a fly-on-the-wall observer of one ordinary family as it systematically self-destructs.

Reunion, which arrives at the Kiln following an enthusiastic reception at the 2024 Galway Arts Festival, brings us one such family who have gathered on an island off the west coast of Ireland in the present day. That the setting is in Ireland is of no import; it could be anywhere. For this is simply about people, and their hilarious struggle to suppress individuality and conform constructively, or even politely, to the needs of a group.

Writer Mark O’Rowe already has numerous successes to his name on stage and screen, not least as co-writer/adaptor of the famed Normal People on TV. And this play, which he also directs, makes for an accomplished production.  

Francis O’Connor’s set feels familiar in style: fiercely naturalistic and evocative of a rural setting with its russet wood panelling, large scenic windows and the inevitable long table for communal living. And, as the play opens, sporadic conversation, new arrivals and general catching up of family news add up to such ordinariness that you wonder whether a drama will ever transpire.

But this relatively slow-paced start is essential for the play’s job. For only when it begins with social niceties, can the mayhem find its force. Thus, its undistinguished beginning turns into a riot of individual madness as the family breaks its chains and airs its fetid underbelly with careless abandon.

And it’s very funny, hitting the notes of genuine farce as the second half progresses.

The cast of 10 delightfully form a real, credible ensemble of characters who, driven by their own inner urgencies, instinctively sabotage the rather lame purpose of the group and its desire to “get together,” with some idea of how this might benefit someone!

High spots are when Stephen Brennan’s wholly dispirited, ageing Felix gets startlingly lucky in the middle of the night with the heartbroken, miserable Gina (Catherine Walker), when Ian-Lloyd Anderson’s Aonghus becomes unhinged, and when Leonard Buckley’s Ciaran tries repeatedly to read aloud his caringly worded tribute to his just-dead mother with endless, hilariously timed interruptions. But there are many other clever and funny moments and Cathy Belton’s head of the family, Elaine, is pivotal in holding the narrative line.  

Despite its Irish location inviting comparison with great Irish playwrights, Reunion is strangely divorced from any sense of social, political or cultural observation or comment. As such, it sits in a vacuum, its environment seeming only incidental and its purpose confined to the idiosyncrasies of one particular group of people in one particular, arbitrary place.

But while this is its main limitation as a play, the brutal truth it confronts about human foibles and furies is delightfully evocative. And when the group dissolves into unfettered, expletive-ridden verbal abuse, flying from one crazed character to another, you know you’ve arrived and can enjoy the sheer ebullience of it all despite the human sorrow.

Easily enjoyable if oddly decontextualised.

Runs until October 11. Box office: (020) 7328-1000, kilntheatre.com.