There are few plays where Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Shakira are considered as future players for the local camogie team but The Sand Park is a play where such things are pondered, amongst many other wild but valid ideas.
As the lights go down on the stage two lonely graves appear against a backdrop of trees and shrubbery. Indeed, until the protagonist appears on stage it’s hard to imagine what will unfold with a scene like this.
When James appears, on stage, the key themes of life and death are juxtaposed evocatively in front of us as much as they are explored within the storytelling that unfolds. This is a play about James Anthony Lowery, a part-time farmer who has invested everything into his family only to experience loss and everything in between.
It takes the idea of our attachment to the field and the landscape that surrounds us to another level. What makes The Sand Park such a sublime play is its ability for doubleness: witty, quirky and fun, but also a profound lament for loved ones lost and what they leave behind. We laugh at the witty wisecracks but feel sorrow for the protagonist who has lost yet another loved one. The main storytelling centres on how it all came to be, the aftermath of losing a loved one and how people cope.
The play takes you from laughter to sadness in a millisecond and carries the deeper message of the fragility of life. Indeed, The Sand Park reminds us in its comparison of sand to seconds and how life is continuously ebbing away and how precious time really is. It’s a play that leaves you in little doubt regarding how brief life is and how precious every second is before the sand finally runs out.
Runs Until April 22nd 2023.
The Review's Hub Score
Sublime
