Sunday Herald

Home Hindrance * * * *

Site-specific and promenade theatre performances are often described as ‘new forms’ of drama. However, such shows, like the mediaeval Passion plays, have existed for centuries. It is hardly surprising that Home Hindrance – a co-production between Vanishing Point and dramatist David Leddy – should seem so timeless.

Performed in Leddy’s Glasgow flat, the piece moves its audience of six through various rooms following a series of five monologues and one duologue. The story itself is inspired by real-life events; in particular the dangerous illness suffered last year by Leddy’s partner Calum McCallum (whose kidneys failed in his youth).

In constructing the story of the recently deceased Rory – a heterosexual man who has died of an undisclosed illness – and the diverse responses to his death among his friends and family, Leddy and director Matthew Lenton put a spotlight on the complex relationship between real experience and theatre.

Leddy’s relaxed tour of the flat ‘before the show’ is a clever and crucial part of the piece. Little details he has given us (about Calum’s health, about the views from their flat) recur throughout. In a few neat meta-theatrical moments, characters reflect on their absence, and on the fact that they will be played by actors.

Our proximity to members of the fine cast (which includes Paul Thomas Hickey and Clare Yuille) is like a secular version of a mediaeval audience member feeling the heat of Christ’s body as he passes during a passion play. The regrets, the irrational rivalries and the strange, angry thoughts that come from the deepest places are all recognisably human responses to death.

Performing a play to a small audience in someone’s home may not be an entirely original idea, but Home Hindrance is a memorable production.