Writer: John B. Keane
Director: Andrew Flynn
The story goes that in the mid-fifties, an elderly man announced to all and sundry in Listowel’s ‘Greyhound Bar’ that the matchmaker had found him a match. He then asked John B. Keane, who was serving behind the counter, to help him choose a ring from the local jeweller, which the young publican did. What Keane hadn’t known at the time was that the old man’s betrothed was just a young girl. When he heard of it later, and also that she’d gone on to have a nervous breakdown and become institutionalised, Keane was distraught. The girl’s hopeless and traumatic experience was the writer’s inspiration for Sive.
Much of the audience will already be familiar with this important work by one of Ireland’s best-loved writers. In simple terms, a wily matchmaker and a callous woman conspire to marry her beautiful young niece off to an old man for financial gain.
The curtain comes up on a flawlessly assembled mid-twentieth century kitchen by set designer Maree Kearns. In a powerful lead-in, the cast, in shadow beyond a free-standing door towards the back, traverse the peat against a stunning backdrop of sunset over the bog (by artist/sculptor Ger Sweeney and lighting designer Ciarán Bagnall). Music by composer Carl Kennedy enhances the bucolic scene perfectly.
The first act opens on Fionnuala Flanagan as Nanna, furtively smoking a pipe in her chair by the inglenook fire. Enter Mena, her shrew of a daughter-in-law, played by Norma Sheahan. Insults traded by the women are sometimes comical but mostly vicious and the atmosphere is one of tension and conflict.
Neither is there any affection between Mena and Nanna’s beautiful granddaughter, Sive (Sade Malone) who is bullied and harassed by her uncle’s wife. When the young scholar arrives home late from school, she’s taunted with “You’ll come to no good either, like the one that went before you” – a reference to Sive’s illegitimacy and to her dead mother.
We soon encounter the infamous matchmaker himself. Though scathingly witty at times, Denis Conway as Thomasheen Seán Rua is a darker, more menacing iteration in Andrew Flynn’s production. Nanna has no time for him, “the mean snap is in you”, but he artfully beguiles and manipulates Mena into agreeing to a marriage between the “flower of the parish” (Sive) and the “wizened” prosperous farmer, Sean Dóta (John Olohan). Mena’s husband Mike, played by Patrick Ryan, is initially aghast at the idea, but eventually succumbs to his wife’s persuasion and the allure of a substantial dowry.
Meanwhile Sive is being courted by Liam Scuab who is besotted with her and she by him. The pairing of promising young actors Sade Malone and John Rice as the face of a new Ireland is in itself an excellent match. The duo is sweet and compelling as the love-struck couple.
Although the play has sombre themes and examines some serious issues of 1950’s rural Ireland, there is also great hilarity in Keane’s script. The visiting “tinker poets”, decent and informed, Pats Bocock (Steve Wall) and his captivating musical son, Carthalawn (Larry Beau) – alight on the stage like a breath of fresh air. Beau’s singing is superb.
Maureen Hughes casting has pulled off a tour de force here. These accomplished actors are first-rate and have impressive credits to their names. Fionnuala Flanagan inhabits her character totally. She is outstanding. She ‘is’ Nanna. And although Norma Sheahan plays the part of a deeply unlikeable, berating harridan, such is her nuanced portrayal of Mena that we manage to feel pity for the way poverty and infertility have shaped her life.
Sive really is theatre at its finest. The standing ovation is immediate and lengthy.
Runs Until 16th March 2024.
The Review's Hub Score
Theatre at its finest!
