Brenda Blethyn and Niall Buggy star in Edna O’Brien’s Haunted.

Mrs. Berry’s a live wire, full of fight and flights of fancy, even in middle age.  She’s a woman who commands attention and knows how to hold it, and in Blethyn’s hands she’s the center of the play.
In fact, O’Brien reveals how Mrs. Berry’s remarkable eloquence is in some ways her revenge on her otherwise drab world of hard work, and her heart’s response to the disappointing ordinariness surrounding her, and all the accumulated regrets that come with it.

As the play progresses, though, we realize that each of the characters expend on language a sensuality that’s entirely lacking in their lives. Words can heal, O’Brien reminds us, but they can also hold at bay, and her characters often seem to use language to prevent them from connecting, or from really saying what they think or feel.

But everything changes when young Hazel (Beth Cooke) comes into their lives.  With her beauty and youth she’s a reminder of their own lost potential, and her presence disrupts their routine almost from the moment she first appears. She’s also a poignant reminder that the Berry’s marriage is a sexless one.

“It has very much to do with the loss of childhood and the loss of the child within oneself,” Buggy tells the Irish Voice. “In a way, in order to be able to appreciate language the way Mr. Berry does, you have to have a certain child like quality. He does have that. But the young girl reminds him of his old self, and she brings him to life again.”

The awkwardness and embarrassment of a much older man becoming infatuated with a young girl drives the action of the play and ignites the suspicions of Mrs. Berry, who is amazed by the sudden change in her husband’s mood.

“I believe he does love his wife very much,” says Buggy. “Their relationship has endured for many years. And although he doesn’t have what we call in Dublin cardinal knowledge of the young girl, he does love her, too.

“It’s about loss, really. What we lose in life. When those doors close, they close forever. I just feel very privileged as an actor to play this role as best as I can.”

Blethyn is also clear about why she wanted to appear in Haunted.

“It was the language of the play itself -- in an age where we’re reduced to texting and abbreviating ourselves -- to open this script and see the feast of language there was the first thing that sucked me in,” she said.

“It just reaches much further into the psyche and the heart, and the characters are able to express themselves more fully and more honestly. The challenge was to do that naturalistically and for it not to sound odd, and I think we’ve achieved that,” she says.

“Of all the plays I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot, this one provokes the most after play discussions. It’s fascinating to see where people’s sympathies lie when the play ends.”

​
Nster.com