Writer: Joey Ellis
Director: Gráinne Byrne
In many cultures, the passing of an elderly relative is a respected part of the human life cycle. The presence of family around the bedside of a dying loved one is part of a tradition, a ritual even, to assist the soul on its way to its next destination.
However, for others, especially in uptight British families, there is a reticence and awkwardness about the whole thing. That’s the case of the family at the heart of Joey Ellis’s Flying Ant Day, a dark comedy about three siblings who reunite for the first time in years at the foot of their dying mother’s hospital bed.
The large cast (12 is certainly unusual by fringe standards), roughly similar ages, betrays the origins of Ellis’s work as a student piece, with the cast hailing from Guildford School of Acting’s MFA course. That also means that the piece becomes a truly ensemble work, with no single character gaining a lead status.
The theme of varying attitudes to life and death is tackled in various ways. Alex Gannon’s Glen, the only son in the family, is wracked with guilt over not having been able to visit his father in his last days. Clare Nolan’s Kate is concerned with all the paperwork involved, especially the financials around the family home and mysterious large withdrawals from their mother’s bank account, while Kate’s sensitive son Sam (an impressively dry performance from Daniel Hintner) is dealing both with his unresolved feelings around his own death, and reigning in schoolfriend Kit (Paula Pirvu) as she sets up video cameras to record Sam’s grandmother’s moment of death for a school project.
Pirvu is this production’s secret weapon, a brilliantly comic creation of a 15-year-old with no filter who effortlessly punctures solemn moments with lashings of wit. That’s essential for a play that, while it also doles out plenty of comic lines around the rest of the cast, throws in some confused plotting and stereotyped characters. Reagan Madilyn Martin as Glen’s high-maintenance wife, Brooke, and Meadow Capon’s flighty, Instagram-obsessed actress both deal in archetypes that, while certainly existing out in the real world, feel one-note when portrayed on stage as here.
Some of Ellis’s structural conceits work. The flying ants of the title, which emerge from their colonies for a brief mating season, serve as a recurring metaphor, with each character’s reactions to the insects that invade the hospital room revealing their character.
The metaphor doesn’t really support deeper analysis – especially since the belief that all the ants die after a day, often cited in Ellis’s dialogue, is only valid for the males (female workers and queens live year-round) – but that is less annoying than some other elements of the work. Director Gráinne Byrne has the ensemble dance during some scene breaks, partly to cover some set and prop rearrangements. And while it’s always nice to hear some lesser-known Leonard Cohen, the transitions feel forced and awkward.
Bigger problems arise with some of Ellis’s plotting. Mysteries that are signposted at the beginning, and returned to throughout – especially around the missing money, and the presence of Ruth Douglas’s “death Doula” – are dropped or forgotten by the end. In a short piece that might be forgiven, but with a running time of nearly two hours without an interval, there should be ample time for a stronger construction.
More satisfying is the portrayal of the siblings’ dying mother, Anse. While in the initial scenes, she lies motionless in a hospital bed, Gayané Kaligian gradually sits up to offer her commentary and opinion on the family squabbles unfolding around her. As the ghost of her deceased husband arrives to collect her for the next stage of their life together, the battle between his impatience and her desire to witness any possible reconciliation between her disagreeable children is played nicely.
Even then, it feels like the actual death is drawn out, and a flashback coda adds little. What could have put some of the mysteries to bed only repeats elements already discussed at length by the extended family.
While Flying Ant Day is far too long, it does showcase some talents that are worth looking out for. That is especially true for Hintner and Pirvu’s fascinating double act. Like the flying ants that Sam tries to save, one yearns to see this pair fly long, far and free.
Reviewed on 3 October 2025
