Reunion at Kiln Theatre
A jilted former lover has made his return to the fray, whipping up a melodramatic storm amidst a family gathering that scarcely includes him at all. The lover in question (Ian-Lloyd Anderson) seeks to win back the woman he ostensibly loves (Kate Gilmore) or at least, to buy back some of her attention by whatever means are available to him. Yes, there were fights, but so is the way of spirits that are wild and true. Were these fights not reflective of spontaneity and passion? The real stuff of great love affairs? Come to think of it, he even has a poem or two on the subject, and should he be permitted simply to read the most situationally applicable stanzas, surely her mind would be fully changed. It’s a sad display from a man who plainly has so little else going for him that mythologising his immediate past is the last resort, and it’s no less unmistakably absurd for being so. The man, by the name of Aonghus, is funnier the more desperate he is, a sentiment that rings true of most everyone in Mark O’Rowe’s snappy ensemble piece.
Reunion’s set-up follows the tried-and-true device of placing a discordant family under a single roof and allowing their myriad mini-dramas and long-standing resentments to crescendo, but the play (which O’Rowe also directs) remains nimble and refreshingly light on its feet. Jokes at the expense of these warring relatives are never far away, but not at the expense of tension, and some genuine surprises are in store. Perhaps the best of Reunion’s competing subplots is a funny, almost tender connection between the recently dumped Gina (Catherine Walker) and recently dumped family friend Felix (Stephen Brennan, whose impenetrably milquetoast character conceals the most laser-precise comic timing in the whole play). As the two’s curious correspondence plays out, the tone is pitched evenly between the sincere and the silly.
Adept though O’Rowe and co may be with this balancing act, there are storylines that fare less well. The enmity of Maurice (Peter Corboy) and Holly (Simone Collins), a couple staring down a pregnancy that wavers between half-wanted and not wanted at all, feels especially underdeveloped. Facing the issues of relentless criticism (hers) and physical violence (his), the two matters are held up, disingenuously, as being near-equal in urgency. Taking stock of this, the aforementioned ex-lover on the verge of a mental breakdown and a long-suppressed accusation of sexual misconduct from one family member towards another, the dramatic melting pot would already be set to boiling without the significant offstage death that’s added in late in the game. This pile-up risks not only an excess of tropes but also the feeling of prescribed angst, born more from the requirements of the stage than from authentic shared histories.
Still, Reunion remains consistently well-acted and never dull. The play has the feel of a promising blueprint for a more incisive family portrait, with broad sketches temporarily filling in for the more fully rounded, more detailed dynamics that will later replace them. Nonetheless, in moments capturing the late-night connection of the emotionally adrift and lonely, or a wannabe poet’s strained explanation of how a poem entitled Fart is, in fact, deeply emotional, one catches a clear glimpse into that play’s tragicomic soul.
Thomas Messner
Photos: Mark Senior
Reunion is at Kiln Theatre from 17th September until 11th October 2025. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.
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