Karen Cogan’s Drip Feed is an engrossing play, heavy on detailed imagery and light on dramatic distractions.
Simply staged, it’s a casual conversation, as if you’d met a stranger who’s telling you their life story.
Set in 1990s Cork, the character of Brenda is in a rut. She’s become part of the furniture of the place but hasn’t decided whether she’s proud of this fact or not. Obsessed with her ex-girlfriend, stuck in an unfulfilling job and painfully aware of her status as a lesbian, it’s all a little bleak.
There’s fun to be had, however, in dark humour, wild nights out and firm friendships. We meet Brenda at a crossroads, as she knows she can’t continue as she is. It takes one event to turn everything on its head and point her in a new direction. Will she succeed?
We’ll never find out but after an hour in her company there’s a hope that she will.
As Brenda, Cowan is direct, with little room for self pity but plenty for regret, as she recalls her questionable behaviour, sketches vivid descriptions of living in Cork and easily impersonates friends and relatives.
The delivery relaxed and confident, the content entirely plausible it’s a comfortable hour of uncomfortable experience.