This years closing gala is the latest collaboration between director
Declan Recks and award winning playwright Eugene O’Brien.
Following on from the massive success of their television miniseries
Pure Mule, Eden manages to sidestep the many clichés
associated with traditional Ireland and is instead an unflinching
meditation on married life in a claustrophobic, provincial town.
Winner of the 2001 Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Play,
Eden tells the story of a week in the lives of Billy and Breda Farrell
as they approach their 10th wedding anniversary. Billy is routinely
drunk who deludes himself into believing he is still one of the
‘lads’, despite his marital and parental commitments. Still trading
on the past glories (he heroically rescued a drowning child from
the local river many years previously), his weekends are spent
in the local pub, getting dutifully drunk while fantasising about
heroic sexual encounters with younger women. Breda, on the
other hand, feels isolated and unsure of herself and has resorted
to adapting herself to her husband’s flagging desire. However,
she harbours her own erotic fantasies and dreams that her
husband will some day fulfil her all-consuming need for love.
Breda is determined that the milestone will re-ignite their passion
in their marriage. Billy, on the other hand, has developed an
obsession with Imelda Egan, a pretty but unobtainable young
thing, and convinced himself that the coming weekend will
see them become lovers under the eyes of everyone. As the date
draws closer, Billy’s behaviour becomes more and more chaotic,
while Breda’s frustrations crystallise and find more mature,
high-risk expression.
Under Recks’ impressive direction, both Billy and Breda gradually
reveal themselves to be remarkably complex characters, consumed
by the age-old Irish obsessions of alcohol, sex and a smattering
of self-loathing. With multi-faceted and revealing performances
from Aidan Kelly and Eileen Walsh in the lead roles, Eden takes
the viewer on a dark and exhilarating ride through the depths and
despairs of modern-day Ireland.
