Consumed at Leeds Playhouse Review
Written by Joseph for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Trauma is genetic. Consumed is about the 90th birthday of Eileen (Julia Dearden), a foul-mouthed Northern Irish woman who just wants to enjoy her special day. She is joined by her daughter, Gilly (Andrea Irvine) who has arranged a special lunch for her mum's birthday, before the party later. She has invited her daughter, Jenny (Caoimhe Farren), and her granddaughter Muireean (Muireean Ní Fhaogáin) all the way from London for the first time in years. With 4 generations of Northern Irish women in one room, what could possibly go wrong?
What follows is an exploration into generational trauma and repression. “It's just how things are done around here.” The flag of Keep Calm and Carry On still flies high over this household. Hoarding feelings like they’re stockpiling toilet rolls or plastic bags. Enough to suffocate themselves with.
Andrea's Gilly is superbly frantic. It's clear to us, and those in that room, that something is off. The veneer is beginning to peel, no matter how tight she holds on. Her daughter Jenny is going through something similar but is handling it slightly better, from fear of becoming the repressed mother she despises. Jenny's daughter Muireean is a typical leftist gen A teenager. More than happy to wax lyrical about the effects of climate change, or plastic killing the turtles, but there is more to her, as shown by the 3rd act. Her almost monologue about how the trauma her great-grandmother was inside her at birth was very moving, especially within this context.
All of these actors were firing on all cylinders. One moment following a shocking discovery, Jenny almost felt too real. Gilly's mania felt nuanced enough to show that it was hiding something, and Eileen's comic timing helped to keep this deep black comedy on the right side of the line. Though I felt the overreliance on “The F word from the old person” fell to the law of diminishing returns, save for a few very well-placed examples.
A very powerful piece showing how difficult families can be and daring to not offer a solution, just an insight into what that must be like. A uniquely Irish play that is unashamedly so, and so it should be. Even if I cannot relate to being Irish, it certainly showed me “the way things are done around here”.
Consumed embarks on a UK tour until October 2025.
★★★★★
