REVIEW: SOLAS NUA: THE HONEY TRAP At the Atlas Performing Arts Center

How do individuals and communities heal after decades of violence? THE HONEY TRAP, a world premiere presented by Solas Nua, focuses on one night in Belfast during The Troubles and how the events that transpire that night forever change the lives of diametrically opposed young adults.

THE HONEY TRAP begins with Dave (Jonathan Holmes), a crass, out-of-touch British Army veteran, sitting down with Emily (Rebecca Ballinger), an American grad student documenting an oral history of The Troubles. As present-day Dave (billed as Old Dave) tells his story, we flash back to a bar in 1970’s Belfast where Young Dave (Jared H. Graham) and his subordinate Bobby (Jordan Essex) are off after spending the day on patrol in Northern Ireland and are eager to dance and flirt with locals when two young women catch their eye. Behind Lisa (Emily Erickson) and Kristy’s (Mallorie Stern) feigned interest are ulterior motives as members of the Irish Republican Army.

In the present day, Old Dave learns that Emily knows more about the events of that night that culminated in his army buddy Bobby’s death but is unwilling to share. Given that he has been tormented for decades about his failure to protect Bobby, he makes it his mission to find out more and bring to justice those responsible.

You have to give playwright Leo McGann his due. This is his first show and he starts out on the right foot. It is abundantly evident that he has both the talent and training as well as deep nuance to tell this story. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, THE HONEY TRAP is a suspenseful tale of love, loss, and what reconciliation truly means.

The cast works well together and gives the depth necessary to tell such a heavy story. Old Dave, played by Jonathan Holmes, is our morally dubious protagonist who carries his secrets and unresolved strife wherever he goes. Rebecca Ballinger as his foil, Emily: the sharp if distanced grad student, expresses the audience’s collective exasperation with Old Dave and hooks us in. Lise Bruneau as Sonia, a woman with a checkered past and maybe some answers to Dave’s questions, injects further suspense and a strong new dimension to the story at hand.

In the 1970’s scenes, Jared H. Graham as Young Dave is a good match. Graham presents us with the nascent traits that allow the audience to understand why Old Dave is the person he is and why he seems so tormented. Jordan Essex as Bobby instantly wins over the hearts of the audience which makes it so chilling for us to know that Bobby is doomed to die in all flashbacks. Emily Erickson and Mallorie Stern as Lisa and Kristy respectively, stand tall and will convince you that you know their M.O.- you’re wrong.

Beneath the play is a difficulty that plagues all reconciliations, finding out exactly what happened by talking with the people who were there. Early on in the play, Emily, perhaps naively, states that she believes all her oral history interviewees have been honest and truthful to her with some few instances of “misremembering.” As the play goes on and more details are revealed, the truth of the night at the bar and Bobby’s death are thrown more and more into question. Will the small lies told to hide particularly painful elements of the story obscure the absolute truth from coming out? Is there such a thing as absolute truth beyond just a compilation of how people remember fateful events?

THE HONEY TRAP is a culturally significant play for so many who grew up during The Troubles, but it is not to be mistaken as an exclusively Irish story or even as purely a historical piece. A lot of the messages and stories regarding abuses and reconciliation brought up within THE HONEY TRAP are international in nature and particularly fitting for DC.

THE HONEY TRAP has a run time of two hours with one intermission.

Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography: Jared H. Graham (Young Dave), Emily Erickson (Lisa), Mallorie Stern (Kirsty), Jordan Essex (Bobby), Jonathan Holmes (Dave)

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