Emma is pregnant; her father is slowly dying. Francis can see how overwhelming the amount of care he needs is, and is desperate to speed things up. All the while, a seagull is eager to become human. Peter McCormick writes a peculiar absurdist play that explores the hard-hitting realities of caring for an ailing parent. All the frustrations and complications that come with the reversal of the caregiving roles are brought to the surface with delicate sensitivity.
“I’m not supposed to do this to my child. I’m not supposed to be a burden!” Francis (Billy Mack) confides once motor neurone disease has drastically limited his movements. Emma’s (Francesca Hess) strength falters, but the love for her dad prevails. While she has a series of uncomfortable conversations with Dr Bell (McCormick), Francis is having a great time with a disturbing new friend, the Gull (Michael Guest). He is an impish presence, horrifyingly and obnoxiously charming.
The concept is rather strange when you analyse it, and we leave the theatre with more questions than we have answers. Yet, the core of the piece is unfaltering. Tender, slow moments alternate more comical vignettes. The comic side never overpowers the emotional tragedy, but brings light to an otherwise dreary subject.
Francis, whom we met when he was excitedly planning to make a cot for his grandchild, grows quieter and quieter, but his sense of humour remains, emphasised by the Gull’s disturbingly jolly spirit. He quotes Emily Dickinson (ironically, we thought of Max Porter’s Grief Is the Thing with Feathers and Enda Walsh’s adaptation when we first saw this dynamic) and turns increasingly more malicious, mirroring the progression of the illness. It’s a dark, gripping, and truly affecting project.
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