Hooked

Last night I went to see a new play called Hooked in Central arts. My boyfriend had gotten us tickets so I knew nothing about the play itself other than it was supposed to be good which really is all I'd want to know. We had seen one other play in Central and that had been really good so it would be fair to say my expectations were set fairly high and I wasn't disappointed.

If I were to give you a basic synopsis of the play it would be that it is a story about a husband and wife living a small town in the South east, not quite happily married but ticking a long until a stranger moves into town and disrupts their quiet lives. Technically that would all be correct but it would doing the play an injustice as there so much more to the story.

There were only three characters on stage Tom, Mary ( the married couple) and Lydia (the stranger) but at times it felt like there was more as Mary's best friend referred to as 'hairy hole' by her husband and Tom (unbeknownst to her)because of a small issue she had with female grooming and Tom and Mary's adult daughter also seemed to loom large despite not actually having a scene in the play.

So Tom and Mary have been happily trundling along. She likes to give out, go shopping with 'hairy hole' and come back drunk and she keeps a watchful eye on those around her. Tom enjoys fishing, time by himself and has a little secret ( unknown to Mary) and then Lydia moves into town and every man in the place is very taken with her much to Mary's disgust. While there were serious undertones to the play with Mary's drinking and angry behaviour being tackled and Lydia's unsuitability as a parent  ( she had lost custody of her son) they were interspersed with many moments of hilarity. 
I think my sides hurt from laughing by the time I  left. 

The acting was absolutely fantastic and I felt spoilt because usually you have to go all the way to Dublin to get this kind of quality, to say Waterford often feels neglected when it comes to bigger cultural events would be an understatement but thanks to likes of Central arts who are truly innovative in their approach, times are swiftly changing. 

Tina Kellegher as  Mary ( might be best known for her role as Sharon in the snapper) played up her part fantastically. While I couldn't say I particularly warmed to her character, I could not fault her acting. She was not playing a particularly nice woman and I found it hard to shake that impression once the play was over ( in the same way you might see people getting angry when they meet someone who plays the bad guy in a well known tv show) because when the acting is good enough you can often temporarily believe they are that character. Mary, for me anyway, was really the villain of the play, she had a lot of misplaced anger and dissatisfaction with her own life and everyone else seemed to be baring the brunt of it.

Seana Kerslake as Lydia played her part beautifully. She was a bit of wishy washy character and while I tried to feel sorry for her for losing custody of her son, I felt I couldn't not do so completely as she seemed too busy making excuses for the incident that caused it rather than taking any responsibility for it. She wasn't the scarlet woman that Mary cast her as really because aside from allowing the men of the town to fawn over and maybe winding Mary up a little ( which let's face it was well deserved) she didn't really do anything wrong. 
She did have a kind of charm to her and she only seemed to reveal what showed her in the best light but I suppose we could all be a little guilty of that.

Steve Blount as Tom, absolutely stole the show. He was utterly fantastic and I am actually still chuckling to myself thinking about some of his best scenes. He is a terrific comic actor and managed to bring some levity to even the darkest scenes. Now naturally as the comic lead he had all of the best lines but I cannot hold that responsible for all my laughter because it was his delivery and most of all his facial expressions. He had the audience primed for the best scenes in the play because a look would cross his face and you would know exactly what would happen next and be laughing in anticipation. One of the funniest scenes was an early one where he is talking to Lydia in her back garden and attempting to sit casually beside her but the look on his face the awkward way he was contorting himself while attempting to appear casual actually had tears in my eyes.

Probably the best part of all is the secret that Tom is keeping from everyone else and certainly some of the best comic scenes were staged around this but I wont reveal it out of fear of spoiling the play for anyone who has not seen it yet. There are still two nights left to run and I think there might still be some tickets left, January is a depressing month so don't take my word that this play is an excellent one to see, go check it out for yourself.