Review: THE FUNERAL CLUB, Oran Mor

The Funeral Club is a new play written by Éimi Quinn and directed by Maureen Carr. The play is based on Quinn's own experiences as a teenage cancer survivor.

Emma (Éimi Quinn), Callum (Kyle Gardiner) and Jade (Caroline McKeown) are attending yet another funeral. They happen so often that Callum has no qualms about admitting to his friends that he found the deceased "a bit of an arsehole". The trio balance paying their respects to the family with their giggles and in-jokes about what she was really like. This exchange sets the tone for the piece- sometimes sombre but mostly outrageously witty.

The friends have bonded on a teenage cancer ward and are at different stages in their treatment/prognosis. Callum has a future planned (minus one testicle) and Emma assumed she was going to die- and has racked up nearly £30,000 of debt. But what if she isn't dying? Luckily, Jade has a wealthy absent father and they decide that the only sensible course of action is to rob his diamond warehouse to pay off Emma's debt. The three break out of the ward and set off for their heist. The Funeral Club is full of twists and definitely makes for one of the most entertaining plays programmed this season.

In just an hour, characters with great warmth and wit are firmly established which means this works extremely well as an emotive piece of theatre. It's proper gallows humour, the way the friends speak to each other might be shocking to some but finding something to laugh about when things are pretty bleak is what makes their relationship so strong.

It's hard to believe that The Funeral Club is Éimi Quinn's first staged play as the writing isso  sharp and the plot is so layered. This is not one to be missed!

Photo credit: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

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