'The Brightening Air' review — Conor McPherson's lyrical family drama is brimming with fantasy and fun

Read our review of new play The Brightening Air, starring Chris O'Dowd and Rosie Sheehy, now in performances at the Old Vic to 14 June.

You could say that 2025 is the year of Conor McPherson. His long-awaited adaptation of The Hunger Games is finally due to open in a purpose-built theatre, Troubadour Canary Wharf, in the autumn. And now he’s pitched up at the Old Vic for the summer: in June, Girl from the North Country, his multi-award-winning Bob Dylan musical, is coming home to its original birthplace.

But first, we have something more intriguing. The Brightening Air, McPherson’s first proper play in 12 years, is set in County Sligo in the 1980s, as Dermot (Chris O’Dowd, downright hilarious), a prodigal son of sorts, returns to his knackered old family home after leaving everyone close to him for a 19-year-old employee.

Here, he meets a collection of characters from his past and present, including his two younger siblings and his disregarded wife. The play’s pull comes from their interactions; McPherson’s dialogue is sharp, far-reaching and woven with connecting threads. In the hands of an exceptional ensemble cast, led by Rosie Sheehy as the brash but fragile autistic youngest sister Billie, the intricacies of the family’s world play out at an elegiac, ticking pace.

Openly inspired by Uncle Vanya, The Brightening Air unfolds in four acts. The first — most tightly constructed — serves as a space for introduction. Dermot’s wife Lydia (a quietly shattering Hannah Morrish) lays the table in preparation for the big arrival of Pierre, the siblings’ frail, blind ex-clergyman uncle. His entrance, along with Dermot’s, marks a change in the everyday order of the McFadden household, with the rest of the family scrambling to hold on to the fading rhythms of routine.

On the surface, it is a simple story of people long torn apart attempting to come together. But, in true Mcpherson style, magic runs through the evening. Early on, Lydia begs the middle brother and guarder of the farmhouse, Stephen (Brian Gleeson), to fetch her some rumoured love-potioned water to feed to Dermot. And although we never quite decide if its effects are entirely supernatural, we certainly feel its enchantment through their belief. Memories of the past trickle in and out of the here and now through video footage from the family’s youth, while shadows can be seen just in the distance.

The result is a blend of riveting lyrical ideas. But, with McPherson directing himself, the play suffers from a lack of external perspective. On Rae Smith’s largely basic set, McPherson’s words and thoughts are left to take centre stage. Many of the conversations are stationary; the dialogue, despite being beautifully melodic, starts to veer away from real life.

It doesn’t quite make the impact McPherson might have hoped for then, but the play is still brimming with more fantasy and good fun than most. And for the true brilliance of each actor, this is a play worth a few hours of your time.

The Brightening Air is at the Old Vic to 14 June. Book The Brightening Air tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: The Brightening Air (Photos by Manuel Harlan)