I last saw this play more than a decade ago, and I’ve never read it, yet going into this production at the Old Fitz, I still remembered a line from the script.
“I forgive you.”
It’s a line we all desperately need to hear more often – though, I admit, it’s not one that seems especially memorable from either a theatrical or literary perspective.
But it’s the context in which it’s used in John Patrick Shanley’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea which makes this line so very extraordinary.
The spoiler rule means I can’t describe that context. But I can say that line is followed closely by this line “Just because it doesn’t make sense, doesn’t mean it isn’t true” – which might give a hint of the type of experiences Shanley is exploring.
But first, some basics. Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is a 70 minute two-hander that’s very funny and deeply moving. Roberta meets Danny in a deadbeat bar. Danny is a fighter, though more in the style of perpetual belligerence than praiseworthy resilience. He’s at war with the world. And any victories he’s achieved are entirely Pyric; he might have just killed a man. His behaviour is a clear red flag, but it doesn’t frighten Roberta. In fact, she courts the danger. Perhaps she feels she needs to be punished; she certainly feels she’s done something awfully wrong.
These characters are big and colourful, passionate and physical, and under the superb direction of Nigel Turner-Carroll, JK Kazzi and Jacqui Purvis give utterly beautiful performances.
But back to that line (or, at least, the line adjacent to that line): “Just because it doesn’t make sense, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” This is an assertion of the supra-rational, and though the play is not religious in any conventional way, Shanley does explore material that’s often the province of religion: deep human faults, deep human needs and the regenerative nature of love.
In addition, as Danny and Roberta try to imagine a relationship together, we’re asked to consider the power of make believe, to contemplate hope’s miraculous ability to untether the future from the past. Despite their self-loathing, by being “nice” to each other, perhaps these two can gain some control of their destiny, and might yet share in the good things of Life.
It’s agency born of imagination, and so it retains the childlike quality of innocence, seeing only the world’s promise.
Perhaps it won’t work out. After all, both characters can be brutal, Danny especially so.
But didn’t I say the production was funny?
Well, it is. Not that it’s a black comedy. Nor is the potential for violence taken lightly. The humour is an expression of the love the playwright, and these actors, have for the characters. It’s a love we’re invited to share, and it’s a very easy, and very worthwhile, invitation to accept. (Especially when you’ve heard that line.)
Paul Gilchrist
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley
presented by NicNac Productions
at the Old Fitz until 1 Feb
Image by Tony Davison
Theatre Red 