Theatre
Confessional
Oran Mor, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
four stars
IT IS May and the trees are in leaf, sap is rising and young Kevin has a rising interest in girls that he’d rather not confess to his local priest. That reluctance is really because the Father is also his uncle, and the lad knows that the seal of the confessional doesn’t prevent his uncle from telling all to Kevin’s mum. So Kevin (Cameron Fulton) makes us his confidantes instead, stepping out of the episodic 1980’s sit-com framework to comment on family matters and the heart-stopping progress of his first ever relationship with a girl.
Writer David Weir – born in Edinburgh, now based in London – has already seen his work staged south of the border, but this rollicking peek into a sixteen-year old’s growing pains is the first play he’s had performed in his native land. It ticks a lot of boxes with the Play, Pie and Pint audience, delivering the kind of joshing banter that nudges them in the ribs and trades on the affectionate familiarity we have with the highs and woes of adolescence. For Kevin, however, there are added complications: his uncle has decided that Kevin’s future lies not in the bosom of his girlfriend, but in the priesthood. Shock! horror! and another layer of hilarity, played for all it’s worth (and more) by Jonathan Watson as Father Ignatious.
While Fulton, as Kevin, has a lot of comic advantages as the knowing narrator – masking sharp-witted mickey-taking behind a gloss of compliance – and Sally Reid, playing Kevin’s mother/grandmother/ schoolgirl siren, is every comedic woman Weir and director, Ryan Alexander Dewar need, it’s Watson who makes off with the honours in no fewer than five quick-changing guises. From bolshie grandfather to pillar of the Catholic seminary, by way of teacher, parent and uncle/priest, he gives every morsel of humorous repartee its own, irresistibly entertaining character.
Sponsored by Heineken
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel