Six weeks is a long time in theatre, as a group of strangers discover when they come together for a drama class in Annie Baker’s ensemble play from 2009. This American playwright has since been acclaimed for work including The Flick, John and The Antipodes, and those plays’ attention to the subtleties of group dynamics is evident in this earlier work, too.
In a community centre in Vermont, a brightly encouraging drama facilitator, Marty (Niamh Cusack), introduces counting games, improvisation and role-play to three initially bemused participants. The sharply observant teenager Lauren (Hazel Doupe) was hoping to do some “real acting”, while Theresa (Imogen Doel), recently arrived from New York, and Schultz (Marty Rea) are both bruised by recent break-ups and immediately attracted to each other. They are joined by Marty’s husband, James (Risteárd Cooper), who seems to be there to support her, or perhaps to atone for something.
Working hard to gain their trust, Marty invites them to narrate each other’s life stories, which they do in revealing ways. What might seem like a contrived setup, a Pirandellian way of bringing characters together in a room, becomes cumulatively absorbing and layered, with Róisín McBrinn’s initially slow-paced production carefully mining the comedy of awkward revelations and hurt feelings.
Mirrored walls at either end of Paul Keogan’s strikingly simple set design, staged in traverse, allow us to see the cast from a number of angles, creating a group portrait. At one point, Schultz, excluded from a game, stares at himself in the mirror, searchingly. Each of them gains insights into someone else’s character but has blind spots about themselves, especially the well-intentioned Marty.
While the premise is self-referential, it encompasses larger questions that are political with a lower-case “p”. Baker’s observation of interpersonal power-play within groups is prescient, especially in light of #MeToo’s highlighting of the need for boundaries in creative processes; questions of permission, consent and safety arise.
In-built silences, precise movement and intricately structured dialogue allow space for the superb cast to express much more than these characters intend, as secrets are revealed – both inadvertently and deliberately.
At the Gate theatre, Dublin, until 30 June.
