Brian Friel‘s Faith Healer, written in 1979, is a series of four monologues woven around the story of one Frank Hardy, an Irishman with the gift of healing.
The Questors revive it for the first time since 1992, and it contains just as much poignancy and potency as it ever did, in its shape-shifting narrative and unreliable storytellers.
When a play is made up of solo turns like this, it is on the performers to keep you engaged and listening. Director and set designer Roger Beaumont knows the economy of this, and how to include the audience by getting the actors either downstage or seeking eye contact with the audience.
David Lemkin adds a certain arrogance and self-belief to Frank, proclaimed on his poster as “The Fantastic Francis Hardy”. Sarah Sharpe is damaged and delicate as Grace, “the mistress”, while David Erdos is assured but artificial by necessity as promoter Teddy.
Friel’s writing captures the contradiction of the travelling artiste and the backdrop of the decrepit, desperate villages who might seek hope from one who claims the ability to heal physical ailments. He also gives each of the three characters – Frank has two monologues – a clear personality that may or may not enhance the story.
As one incident is revisited, mangled and shaped, it grows as a commentary on memory, love, and ‘playing God’. A song from the past occasionally plays, with changing significance depending on who you ask.
Faith Healer is described by its Questors director as “strange and beautiful”, and so it is. It doesn’t make a judgement about Frank, Grace, or Teddy – their words are testament enough to their world. A world of quirky acts at the bottom of the bill, grimy digs, and fields filled with wet mist.
As Frank engages us with the practised ease of a charlatan, it is Teddy who is the realist, hiding his true feelings behind a veneer of bonhomie. Each character has their own tragedy but this is no dour drama. Just like life, there is a dark vein of comedy through the tears.
I think this is the best show at the Questors so far this year. A full five stars.
Faith Healer continues at Questors Studio to 24 Oct.
Photo credit: Jane Arnold-Forster