Consumed review – mothers and daughters clash in Women’s prize for playwriting winner

Traverse theatre, Edinburgh

Buried trauma surfaces at a family reunion in Karis Kelly’s darkly funny Northern Irish drama that attempts to capture a broader history of violence

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aris Kelly’s drama won the Women’s prize for playwriting in 2022 and you can see why. Set amid a family reunion dinner in Northern Ireland, only the women are present here. And in the way of many such theatrical reunions, it leads to an almighty blow-up, yet there is no hint of cliche. Kelly is a talented playwright navigating between black humour and pain.

At the head of the table is Eileen (Julia Dearden), a foul-mouthed matriarch whose 90th birthday they are celebrating. Gilly (Andrea Irvine) is her daughter and the mother of Jenny (Caoimhe Farren), who left long ago for a life in London. Muireann (Muireann Ní Fhaogáin), the youngest, is Jenny’s London-born-and-raised daughter.