Theatre
From the Air
Oran Mor, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
****
YOU could say that Anita Vettesse’s latest Oran Mor goodie is a wily comedy of terrors where one woman’s phobias overshadow everything else. Her behaviour is now verging on the ridiculous, however the fall-out from her fears is seriously threatening every relationship that matters to her.
We first see Claire (Angela Darcy) in a manic panic and a fluffy dressing-gown. The screen behind her fills with images - lapping waves, cloudscapes - that, along with the murmuring meditation tape, were probably meant to calm her. Instead, they’re having the opposite effect and by the time husband Pete (David McGowan) is phoning to ask “where are you?”, the frazzled Claire is hyper-ventilating: still at home while he’s waiting for her ... in Italy. As mid-life empty nesters, they were meant to be re-locating there.
Vettesse’s script is merrily light on its feet here. Claire’s roster of problems, especially her recently acquired fear of flying, is rendered wickedly funny because Darcy (and director Davey Anderson) agree with Vettesse that farce is an ideal springboard for the melt-down ahead. And while Darcy delivers frantic agitation, limp promises and defensive protests, McGowan is equally impressive as a likeably genial man whose patience is wearing ruefully thin. He nonetheless joins her on a Flying Without Fear course - the other (unseen) passengers providing more fodder for Vettesse’s humorous observations - but at some point, Claire’s obsessions are no longer a laughing matter. There is deep-rooted pain, anger and resentment in the argument that suddenly erupts between them, and Darcy and McGowan take pent-up seethings to boiling point with a combative zeal that blasts both sides of their shared story into the open. Will they ever fly United Love again? Boarding cards at the ready folks - this one takes off with style
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