08/08/26

Gilded Balloon Teviot (Wee Room), Edinburgh

One of the greatest joys of the Edinburgh Fringe is when you book in to see a little show with no real expectations – and it turns out to be a solid gold winner. Mortal Sin is exactly that, a joyful two-hander about a couple of kids in a remote seaside town in the Republic of Ireland. As the two of them negotiate the puzzles – and occasional joys – of growing up in a rural community dominated by Catholicism, you share their laughter and their pain

It’s 1963 and President John F Kennedy has recently paid a long visit to Ireland. Best friends Colm (Benjamin Reilly) and Peggy (Isolde Fenton) are infatuated with the man, seeing him as a sort of Latter Day Saint – as do many others in Ireland. As I said, Colm and Peggy are besties but they know that they will never end up married with kids. Colm is already presenting in ways that his hardline father condemns as ‘sissy’ and Peggy is adamant that she will not be bound to this desolate, straight-laced community forever. And when she leaves, she’ll be taking Colm with her.

And then the unthinkable happens: JFK is assassinated. Peggy persuades Colm that, because of this tragedy, they should have a day off school to mark his passing. So the two of them set about engineering a protest, with the aim of making that happen…

It’s quite something for adult actors to take on junior roles and play them believably, but both Reilly – who also wrote the incredibly witty script – and Fenton, inhabit their respective characters as though it’s second nature to them. They convey so much through gestures and facial expressions, coaxing big laughs from the smallest things. And while most of the story is played for humour, there’s also a brilliantly understated coda, where the couple’s respective tragedies are skilfully sketched in just a few lines of dialogue.

I laugh until I cry.

Sensitively directed by Lee Coffey, Mortal Sin is an eloquent piece of work, demonstrating what can be achieved with talent and a modest budget. Those looking for a memorable piece of theatre should grab a ticket for the Wee Room, before the word gets out and the seats are gone.

This is fabulous stuff. See it and weep. Miss it and weep more.

5 stars

Philip Caveney