It is not only the prying eyes of rural neighbours that make Portia Coughlan (Denise Gough) feel trapped. In Marina Carr’s blistering drama from 1996, the anti-heroine of the title feels bound for life to her dead twin, Gabriel, and to the Belmont river where he drowned, aged 15. Everything else in Portia’s life – her wealthy husband Raphael (Marty Rea), lover Damus (Fionn Ó Liongsigh) and young children – is overshadowed by her obsession with Gabriel as the missing part of herself.
In Caroline Byrne’s new production, the bare interior of Portia’s expensive home ominously suggests a deep burial chamber, where we first see Portia on the morning of her 30th birthday. Apathetic and drained, she is already working through a bottle of brandy.
