Reviews
“Enjoy your freedom, girls, and all it brings you,” says Laoise, one of three characters, independent women, played by Mary McEvoy in Desolate Heaven. Laoise is addressing two teenage girls who have run away from home, over-burdened by unwell parents. With her masculine gait and mannerisms, Orlaith (Irene Kelleher) is the leader, the butch girl. Sive (Áine Ryan) is the naive one.
The girls in Ailís Ní Riain’s play, which is directed by Tony McCleane-Fay, are on an adventure. Sive is nervous. But such is the strength of Orlaith’s personality, and her promise to take her companion away from drudgery, that Sive becomes more hopeful. She says someone must be looking after them, because of all their luck on the road. As well as Laoise, a lorry driver, the girls meet Freda, who is pernickety about her bales of hay, and Bridie, a butcher. These strong, benign women help the girls on their trip to the coast. Each of them relates a segment of a fairy tale that has shades of Rumpelstiltskin.
