Beginning review: A flintily genuine view of people seeking connection

Two remaining people at a house party navigate their complicated lives. Photo: Ros Kavanagh

Gate Theatre, Dublin

Apr 3-20

★ ★ ★ ★

One conclusion in Beginning is reached early on by Laura, a single-woman hosting a housewarming party in London. “If you meet a guy at a party, you can look them in the eye,” she says, gazing suggestively at her last remaining guest Danny. 

If David Eldridge’s charming play is alluding to the possibilities of theatre, where a scene mightn’t be easily interrupted by multiple viewpoints and passages of time, then director Marc Atkinson’s absorbing production for the Gate Theatre runs with it. Its insistent lingering silences, underlying wordless exchanges between both characters, invite us to inspect scenes closely, as if a connection were forging between the lines. If we meet characters in a play we can look them in the eye longer. 

That stealthy touch is subversive when you consider the broad gestures of many romantic comedies. At first Marty Rea’s shirt-tucked Danny may be buying time, formulating how to seduce Eileen Walsh’s swish and successful Laura. But when asked about his absent father he ponders on a lifetime of heartbreak. “Man up,” says Laura. She immediately regrets it. 

From there the play goes places less heated, but maybe no less meaningful.  Another hushed and touchingly staged scene sees them cleaning up after the party. In their teamwork we see a sweet glimpse of what their partnership could look like. 

Similarly the great long-arc game played by Sarah Bacon’s costuming, loosening garments and tying up hair, takes us to somewhere more casual, and possibly honest. Laura, fresh from a decade-long relationship, reveals her longing to have a baby, and even suggests a role for Danny to play. Already separated from one child he fathered, he fears being removed from the picture once again. 

These complications, beautifully navigated by Walsh and Rae, make for a flintily genuine view of people seeking connection. If the silences reveal less towards the end, it’s because the otherwise taut script tries to ratchet up the “will they or won’t they” tension one too many times. What new can be gleaned, for instance, when Laura eats a sandwich in peace, frustrated with Danny for the billionth time?

As Laura agonises on how over-sharing might have killed her chances, it’s clear that this is the precious courage to bear our souls, captured with the same slow-motion detail of burst photography. If most love stories resemble a leap into affection, Beginning is admirably originally. It's about the takeoff.