Dig

For students, the recession can feel like a remote event not worthy of too much analysis. Whatever the ‘real world’ is, many of us do not want to face it. Doing postgraduate work and becoming ridiculously overqualified seems to be the way our generation has chosen to deal with this ‘real world’. Katie Douglas’ new play, directed by George Perrin, shows how this is the way out for only a chosen few. Dig is heart-breaking and thoughtful, sometimes cutting so close to the bone that you have to look away.

Tommy (Stewart Porter) and Brenda (Kirsten Hogg) have been together for years, but lately they have been going through the motions. They have two sons, but they’re getting trouble. The scene opens in front of the TV with a discussion of the boys’ future, and over the next 45 minutes, we learn that there may not be much of one at all. Tommy is unemployed, and Brenda’s nagging is getting on his nerves. The boys are misbehaving too. The arrival of Tommy’s younger brother Dean (Simon Macallum) after twelve years in prison forces Tommy to re-evaluate his pride and his perceptions, and finally to recognise the responsibilities he has shirked for the sake of them.

This is kitchen-sink drama at its most affecting - or, we should say, television-seat drama. Douglas is a natural heir to John Osborne, Harold Pinter and the Angry Young Men playwrights. Tommy and Brenda have the same old fights over the same old things, and Porter and Hogg tirelessly and convincingly convey the exhaustion which comes with each circular argument, with each evasive comment. Macallum’s and Porter’s family dynamic is painfully recognisable. If the play seems repetitive, that is a good sign, because for Douglas, we’ve all been kidding ourselves. We have all heard Tommy’s excuses before, because we have used them. Katie Douglas has created a devastating snapshot of the muted misery of the recession, and the toll it has taken on a family that is just trying to get by. There may be nothing revelatory about Douglas’ work, no formula to magic away the recession, but the note on which the play ends is a heart-felt refresher course on the importance of love and redemption. Expect some tears.