Sisters stick together well

THE DONAHUE SISTERS
Etcetera Theatre

Belsize Park playwright Geraldine Aron’s The Donahue Sisters sees three Irish sisters, reunited in their old playroom, where they take an intoxicated trip into their dark past.
It is performed by the Camden-based Demeter’s Men theatre company – which formed after meeting at the lesser-known Bridge Theatre Training Company in Regent’s Park Road – and comprises, despite their name, three women.
The Camden venue was packed. When actors outnumber audience, the evening becomes unbearably intense for everyone concerned.
But thankfully awkwardness was taken out of the equation as Amy De Bhrü (Annie), Claire Cordingley (Rosie) and Cecilia Colby (Dunya) turned in commendable performances in only their second production as Demeter’s Men.
The choice of play, with its student-digs dialogue and inconsequential to and fro, seemed to me a little bizarre for a company starting out.
But the theme of destructive family manacles, so important in Irish drama and fiction, came across powerfully.
I really got the feeling that these three ostensibly very different women, whose catch phrase is “all for one and one for all, the Donahue Sisters stick together,” were in fact a deep-seated fraternity, possibly followers of the occult.
Whether this was down to the actors growing up together, or the seeds of dramatic talent, it lent the night some rare authority.

Until Sept 3
020 7482 4857

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