When four friends become three, mourning affects each in very different ways. For the couple Liane (Lucianne McEvoy) and Davie (Andy Clark), the loss of their friend Helen is heartfelt, devastating and they are in it for the long term. For widower Milo (Nicholas Karimi), tempus fugit. In fact, time will do anything but stand still for him as he now has a new girlfriend, Greta (Yana Harris), with plans to be revealed as each scene unfolds.
The thing is that Helen died three months ago, and Greta is 20 years younger than Milo. Davie and Liane cannot move on, and, in a night of emotional mayhem, each has their say with uncomfortable words, raw emotions, and the compromise for each of them that allows the new four to move on from the original four positively, but with the memories intact, is eventually found.
What works here is more than just a well observed script, which Douglas Maxwell has managed to craft with consummate skill, but the structure of a mature piece of work that brings topics of grief to the fore without having overbearing grief central to the plot. This is about relationships and the petty jealousies they can engender between friends. Two of them have been friends since high school, whilst their wives have become interlopers—but now one is the lonely, only one to try and insert themselves. It is perhaps this that finds Liane struggling so much to keep the memory of Helen alive by being the mirror to reflect back on Milo’s perceived midlife crisis.
Part of the skill is allowing Liane’s husband, Davie, to become a rounded figure with a backstory, an illustrator with a new idea after his business has previously failed and cost quite a few friends and family money. As the established couple in the four, their bickering accusations flung at each other carry authenticity as frustrations boil over. Maxwell manages to avoid cliché, though there are references to the familiar from Liane as she attempts to show Milo that all he is doing is following his lonely desires and not building a memorial to his late wife. The symbolism of the Japanese whiskey, bought by Helen, never opened, never drunk, focusses those conflicting desires and draws the drama to a close with an interesting conclusion, as suggested by Liane.
As the new couple, Milo has the task of not being THAT cliché, whilst Greta avoids the glamour option. There is a genuine softness and strength in the relationship, with Greta belying her years and showing as much maturity as her other protagonists. It’s an even-handed piece of collective writing which really works well.
The responsibility of taking this from the page to stage is in incredibly safe hands as the set pieces at the beginning with Liane and Davie, Greta’s late arrival, Davie’s back step discussion, Milo catching up with Liane and getting her back into the house and Davie’s revelation to Greta that “you do know it willnae work” is handled with dramatic punch.
It is deftly directed with great skill, and the pace manages to mix the raw emotion with the hanging desire between them to make things all right. Honesty is drawn from each character in discussions which brim with truth.
A proper set, good costumes and a soundscape of the time of their youth which matches Greta’s age but not with her experiences, this is a brilliant piece of work that does the drama. The cast have honed their skills to deliver a great piece of theatre that has been added to the pantheon of work created by Maxwell and shows a maturity for the writer of Deccy Does a Bronco and Helmet that his age has brought more than wisdom, along with the ability to see the foibles and opportunities within his subjects.