Fair Deal Review – Family bonds are pushed to the extreme in this raucous black comedy | platform

HeyDuring a brief stop in Dublin to settle some scores, celebrity interior designer Sandra (Aislinn McGuckin) makes a powerful impact. Oona McFate’s black comedy brings the Thornton family together to celebrate the sale of their parents’ house. If the family is the psychological battleground here, the house itself is alive with “sexy” elements, with designer Liam Donagh’s faded decor and crowded furnishings playing a major role in the unfolding conflict.

Having inherited the house from her grandmother, Sandra’s estranged daughter Keira (Caroline Minton) now envisions a new life, free of the caring responsibilities and watchful eye of her grandmother from her perfect image dominating the room. Upstairs, Kira’s uncle, Terry, is unseen, lying in a coma, about to be transferred to a nursing home. A second uncle, Darragh, a “wanted character actor,” played with downbeat charm by Garrett Lombard, arrives, while Kira kicks Ryo (Jack Wise) out of the house, after a very contrived quickie that clearly indicates trouble.

With Sandra’s stormy entry from Los Angeles, and her anger at being left out of the decision to sell the house, a confrontation seems inevitable. Through McGuckin’s gleefully mad portrayal of Sandra, the tone shifts from domestic realism to farce. This brilliant millionaire doesn’t need the house, she wants it simply because she can’t have it.

With a background in documentary theatre, McFate has previously explored questions around caring for elderly relatives, and the balance between personal freedom and familial bonds. Here it’s as if she can’t quite pin down the dramatic focus, and while the bickering over money and inheritance has a real stamp of emotional resentment, it feels drawn out and repetitive.

As Sandra’s anger towards her dead mother drives her to extremes, events take a welcome detour into absurd physical comedy, directed by Conal Morrison with effervescent energy and inventive use of a garlic crusher – and whatever else is on hand. Although the subsequent development has been overly detailed, at this point there is no turning back, as Lombard’s suave Daragh finally seizes his moment in the spotlight.