‘Until She Sleeps' at the White Bear Theatre is a beautiful and gut-wrenching portrayal of couple struck by the wife's diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease. Set in the backdrop of an affluent group of English socialites at a Golf Club, the play begins with the ‘famous' Edward Dunbar (Jonathan Hansler) welcoming the club members in. It is quickly established that Dunbar is President and head socialite of the Golf Club, made apparent by his air of arrogance and thrill in taking up space. His equally boisterous wife, Henrietta Dunbar (Tonya Cornelisse) soon makes her presence known, demonstrating the metaphorical throne the couple have acquired in this corner of the Golf world. Amidst Dunbar's performative speech, Henrietta loses her footing, stumbling to the ground and cracking Dunbar's ecstatic veneer.
The play continues with a slow degradation of Henrietta's health. But despite the loss of function in her legs and eventually her entire body, her spirit is thick and brimming with colour as she continues to loudly crack crude jokes and remain a source of energy throughout the play. It is soon revealed that the diagnosis has sparked a fire in the relationship that will eventually burn themselves and everyone around them.
‘Until She Sleeps' explores what happens to the human brain when a loved one suffers from a terminal illness. We see the Dunbars slowly and then explosively turn on each other - as he conspires to cheat and she conspires that he never loved her. That he would have left if he didn't feel so guilty. Edward Dunbar's treatment of his ill wife is rattling, as we see him not only grieve the person she was but the life he had. The status at the club that is rapidly being stripped away. In a final, beautiful monologue, Henrietta sits paralysed in a wheelchair as Dunbar commits his ultimate mental breakdown. The monologue explores romantic love in its entirety; the excitement that comes with early, new love at a young age, full of possibilities and choice.
But cynically descends into the perils of older love, suggesting that it is not uncommon for many couples to stay out of convenience, lack of choice or simply because it's all they've known.
‘Until She Sleeps' accurately and gut-wrenchingly portrays the horrors of Motor Neurone Disease but not without the scripts quick wit and verbal tennis. And a special mention must go to the main actors, Tonya Cornelisse and Jonathan Hansler who demonstrate a masterclass in acting.
Review: Bibi Lucille Photo: Paddy Gormley