Joe Bravaco, the writer of East Riding Theatre's latest production, The One Good Thing, apparently hails from New Jersey in the USA, but there's something decidedly Conor McPherson about this gentle yet emotional tale of brotherly love and grief set in modern day rural Ireland.
Tommy (Declan Sammon) starts the day in good humour, eating his breakfast in his back garden, regarding the sea view and listening to the waves crashing to shore in the distance. He calls his brother Jamie (Gabriel Winter) down to breakfast but his brother doesn't appear—at least not from the house. Jamie enters from outside and, after some meandering pleasantries, announces to his brother that he's dead.
It's not a joke. As the scene progresses Jamie becomes insistent that he's dead. Tommy suggests Jamie seeks the help of a psychiatrist to combat his obvious and disturbing delusion, but Jamie is coldly matter of fact about his lifeless state. It's an intriguing premise for a play and it would be unfair to reveal any more of the plot—suffice it to say that the twists and turns that follow are unexpected, compelling and dramatically satisfying. This is a beautifully realised project, directed (by Richard Avery) and acted with precision, care and in impressive detail.
Vital to the success of The One Good Thing is the playing of the two brothers, Tommy and Jamie. As Tommy, Declan Sammon is excellent, communicating the frustrations and fears of a first-time father and the guilt of his inadequacy at dealing with his mother's death. There is pain and delight in his love for his brother, an emotional bond wrought through need and compassion.
As Jamie, Gabriel Winter is every bit Sammon's equal: the calmer and wiser foil to his brother's insecurities; again, a beautifully realised and impeccable performance. The communion between the two men is the glue that holds this production together; it is the combined skill of the playwright and the actors that make the audience care deeply about the fate of the characters.
The One Good Thing is a new play that has been discovered through ERT's new writing project, PlayLab. It's a bold move to give a brand new script a full production but an important one. It was reported by the BBC just last week that UK theatres are producing a third fewer new plays than a decade ago. That's an appalling and worrying statistic and new writing initiatives should be supported.
For all its merits, the play has its faults. It's too long for its subject matter and the lack of action—particularly in the longer second half—makes the flow of the play drag at times. But the ambiguity, tension and compassion the play exudes ensures that the audience stay in rapt attention. The 'one good thing' of the title turns out to be grief; not the pain of grief but the memories that are cherished; it reminded me of the final the words of Larkin's Arundel Tomb: "what will survive of us is love".
Very little of our drama, whether on TV or in the theatre, focuses on kindness as a central theme; yet Joe Bravaco's play does and is all the more commendable for it.