In a Dark Dark House

Synopsis

Brothers Terry and Drew are worlds apart. The extraordinary circumstances of their reunion force them to relive the carefully forgotten memories of their childhood. An encounter with a pretty girl putting holes on her father’s miniature golf course sends out shockwaves such that their lives will never be the same again. This explosive new drama by the controversial Neil LaBute explores the depths of family loyalty with powerful and moving results.

Our Review:

28 November 2008

As he makes clear in the introduction to the printed text, Neil LaBute’s latest London premiere is both an excavation of his own childhood and a deliberate homage to both Sam Shepard and Ingmar Bergman. Two brothers return to their childhood and the dark secrets of a violent father and an abusive family friend.

Sounds grim? Yet more dramatic chest-beating as a form of self-therapy? Haven’t we just about had enough family reunions this week from T S Eliot and Steppenwolf? Yes to all three questions, but LaBute loads his dice in a fascinating way and Michael Attenborough’s involving production has two remarkable, unstrained performances from David Morrissey and Steven Mackintosh.

The scene is an adaptable greensward, first the grounds of an institution, bordered with firs and rushes, where Mackintosh’s Drew, a married lawyer with a drink and promiscuity problem, is visited by his older brother, Morrissey’s Terry, a mixed up security guard (tho...

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Latest User Review

joesmith - 17 January 2009:

Terrible self indulgent script, totally unperformable. The two actors have also been spoiled by doing too much telly and have forgotten how to hold an audience. The girl was fantastic....

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