The performance space at The Kings Arms is a relatively modest venue, essentially a large-ish room above a pub that’s well worth a visit in its own right. In Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, Thacker and his team have chosen a play that suits it well.
The story centres on Frank Hardy (Colin Connor), the itinerant faith healer of the title, his wife Grace (Vicky Binns), and his manager Teddy (Rupert Hill). The play essentially consists of four monologues from three characters with intertwined lives, each part of the play informing what comes next and modulating what has gone before.
There are emotional highs and lows seen from each of their perspectives, with their differing opinions and recollections meaning that – as with life – one person’s triumph may well be another’s tragedy.
The narrative also forms a gestalt – a whole greater than the sum of its parts – with elements of the story left unsaid, but their presence no less powerful for that. Combine this with three not entirely reliable narrators, and I imagine it’s entirely possible for people to leave feeling like they’ve seen slightly different plays.
Not that there’s anything vague; the acting and direction are crystal clear, and what we see of each character feels like the sum of the lives each has led up to that point. Such depth and precision is only possible with preparation of the highest order, but it’s work that’s worn lightly and with grace.
The play is bold both in form and content, then, perhaps resembling a Rashomon-meets-Talking Heads hybrid with jagged pain reminiscent of Beckett’s works. It’s far from austere, though, and there are more laughs than many comedies manage.
There’s a danger in reviewing a production on opening night, given how much it might evolve once exposed to an audience; but if that had any effect here, it was minor. I did find myself wondering whether the first monologue might have a bit more intensity in places, the second a bit less, especially when the latter briefly interfered with clarity; but beyond that, I’d struggle to find fault.
Everything from the costumes to the music and decor is just finely judged, a credit to the whole team.
Brian Friel is more than just a playwright, he’s a poet of the highest order, his use of language beguiling, seductive, hypnotic, even when dealing with the toughest of subjects. He balances this so well with humour and a sense of the absurd you’re left feeling like you’ve seen life from his perspective; and despite the emotional grittiness of much of the storytelling, there’s a lingering sense at the end that you’ve witnessed something holy.
Another triumph, then, following Thacker’s similarly impressive, engaging, and moving production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo at the same venue a little while ago.
I see there’s an ‘Investigate Day’, starting on the morning of Saturday 18th January, where the cast and Director will discuss and demonstrate some of the process they went through in bringing the play to the stage. This would be a bargain at £20, £30, or even £50; the fact that you can attend for free with a ticket for any of the performances is an act of remarkable generosity. I attended similar events whilst Thacker was Artistic Director at the Bolton Octagon and thoroughly recommend going if you can.
