Little Brother at Soho Theatre
While “state of the nation” is a phrase often bandied about for productions that have social issues at their dramatic core, it feels more apt to define Eoin McAndrew’s Verity Bargate Award-winning Little Brother as a beautifully unashamed “state of the situation” play. The situation, which is heart-wrenchingly exposed in Emma Jordan’s meticulously directed production, is the stark realities of living with and caring for those experiencing mental health-related illnesses in the modern day.
The play opens with a seemingly innocuous phone call that Niall (Cormac McAlinden) makes to his sister Brigid (Catherine Rees) at three am. Once the phone call ends, though, Niall disturbingly self-harms by setting fire to his left hand. From that point, the audience is taken on a swift but thoroughly engrossing “warts and all” insight into how brother and sister navigate the emotional toil and challenges that come from Niall’s fluctuating health.
As the narrative progresses, it is unsparingly highlighted, tragicomically and with unflinching realism, the institutional shortcomings of the overloaded NHS services in Northern Ireland, to the everyday ignorance of people in knowing how to sensitively interact with those experiencing mental health-related illness.
The driving heart of the play’s success is the superb performances of McAlinden and Rees and the wonderful support provided by Conor O’Donnell and Laura Dos Santos. Though the tender chemistry between McAlinden and Rees is utterly engaging, O’Donnell’s role as Brigid’s love interest, Michael Doran and Dos Santos’s multi-roling characterisations are just as important to the success of this play.
While the dominant production feature is its captivatingly realistic performances, the evocatively vivid and symbolic lighting design of Bethany Gupwell and sound design of Katie Richardson are skilfully interwoven into the scene transitions and more brooding moments.
In particular, Gupwell and Richardson’s stagecraft potently enhances a raw and enthralling scene depicting a quasi-schizophrenic breakdown from Niall to unnervingly remind the audience that, though there is a tragicomic reality to the current mental health crisis, there are, sadly, disturbing consequences, too.
Though Little Brother ends on a pleasingly warm note, there is the palpable feeling that there is a lot more that could have been more fully explored in Niall and Brigid’s journey; nonetheless, what we are privileged to see in the relatively short 85-minute production is a powerfully absorbing play, which audience members should take full advantage of seeing before it ends its run in late November.
Francis Nash
Photos: Camilla Greenwell
Little Brother is at Soho Theatre until 22nd November 2025. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.
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