When the lights go up at the end of Kaite O Reilly’s Cosy in the WMC’s Weston Studio, you might find that you have to pick yourself up off the floor and put an ice pack on your face for the clobber it gives you. This play fights you and your natural urge to ignore the inevitable; it provokes and can reduce you to tears like any great fighter. And it does so, as O’Reilly does so well, through language.
Sharon Morgan
In this new commission O’Reilly magnifies an issue we all want to stave off as long as possible: death in all its multifaceted glory – the only unbroken promise life gives. The story follows Rose, her friend Maureen, her three daughters and granddaughter, all of who have their own problems and relationship with the grim reaper.
Rose wants to end her life with dignity and self-possession. She loves life as it is and does not want to give way to infirmity. So she seeks the help of her daughters, all of who object to her shuffling off so early, for different reasons, despite knowing that she is unwell, and that malady could ‘take hold’ of her at anytime.
Through the various relationships presented we are provided with a domestic debate about life and it’s sanctity – either in the sense of preserving the memory of life, or holding on to it as long as possible even when it’s fading away.
Ruth Lloyd (Camille)
Bethan Rose Young (Isabella), Sara Beer (Maureen) and Sharon Morgan (Rose)
This play brings up themes of familial love, agency over ones own body, end of life care, and perspective grief. These subjects are all interwoven into a beautiful narrative and straddle a line between the everyday questions of life and the uncertainties of death.
All the performers do well in this production with Sharon Morgan as Rose and Sara Beer as Maureen really shining through. Morgan brings a quiet serenity and sanity to her situation that beautifully sets the pace of the whole evening. Beer is bloody hilarious – literally. She provides a wit so cutting, that you are never allowed to wallow in the apparent bleakness that the stench of death brings.
Llinos Daniel (Gloria), Bethan Rose Young (Isabella), Sharon Morgan (Rose) and Ruth Lloyd (Camille)
There was once, maybe twice, where I felt the energy lulled slightly affecting the pace of the given moment – but this was only noticeable because the rest of it was so perfectly pitched. Director Phillip Zarrilli cleverly keeps the staging simple, giving enough room for the text to breathe and do its job. The set (Simon Banham) is provocative in its colour and simplicity. It is both abstract and domestic, perfectly suited to O’Reilly’s brand of storytelling.
Ruth Lloyd (Camille) and Ri Richards (Ed)
Where all the theatrical languages of text, staging, and acting cross-section to epitomise the essence of the play and its subject is at Rose’s closing monologue. Morgan pitches O’Reilly’s heart-stopping words with grace and dignity that blows the final punch and knocked me, at least, for six.
This production stirs and questions our ideals of life and death in a beautiful and sensitive manner. It will make your heart pump and your belly shake. A thought-provoking night that is not to be missed.
Cosy by Kaite O’Reilly @ The Weston Studio, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Directed by Phillip Zarrilli
Wales Millennium Centre, Until March 16