For Dolores

For Dolores is a two-hander about two women whose friendship becomes entangled with marriage, betrayal, murder, motherhood and class. One gets engaged and cheats with the other’s brother; the fiancé kills him; the two women are left to raise a baby together. The story unfolds through a puzzle-like, mixed chronology, gradually filling in the circumstances that brought them there.

The structure keeps the audience piecing the story together while the emotional centre remains the relationship between the two women. Friendship, bonding and motherhood are there, but class is really the dominant force underneath it all.

What makes the production work is the acting. Catriona Faint and Lara McDonnell are exceptional. They carry the shifting temporality and the complicated emotional history with enough control that the underlying story never becomes lost in its own construction, while the chemistry between them makes the friendship feel completely convincing.

Very good overall. A complicated story made compelling by two exceptional performances.

For Dolores by Fishamble: The New Play Company. Credit Pat Redmond.