Birthright at Finborough Theatre

Birthright immediately appealed to me as the rediscovery of a successful play from ninety years ago when it played in the West End and on Broadway. I also liked that it is set in Ireland as different cultures give different perspectives and different learnings.

And it was on at Finborough which is always worth a visit so it was a ridiculously easy decision to invest £18 on the experience.

There is a routine around visits to Finborough which I was very happy to follow. The cornerstone of this was the visit to Café du Coin in Earls Court Road for the customary Egg Florentine with a Magic Pear and Mint drink to wash it down. Always a good combination.

This new routine still has to cater for the Finborough Arms, the pub below the theatre, being closed as it has been since covid closed its doors. There are signs that it is coming back and it will be good to have a comfortable drink before performances.

Birthright is, apparently, based on the biblical story of Esau and Jacob but it is almost sixty years since I had stories like that forced on me at school and so that was not much of a help. More helpful was the explanation that it concerned one family on one day where the succession of the family farm would be argued over.
 

All the action took place in the main room in the family cottage with the two parents and two sons coming and going over the day as they went about their work and activities.

The set (pictured) was superb.

The play was almost all dialogue, a lot of it heated, as the four characters made their positions clear.

I liked the way that the four people all had good arguments though they did not always present them in a good way, e.g. at one point the father said things might have been better if he had married a woman from farming stock who knew the ways of farms.

A play about four strong characters needs four good actors and Rosie Armstrong (mother), Pádraig Lynch (father), Thomas Fitzgerald (elder son) and Peter Broderick (younger son) were all excellent. The father was the most animated so Pádraig Lynch got the most attention but this was a team effort. There's also a favourable mention for the fifth character, a family friend played by Aidan McGleenan, whose visits to the house helped to frame the story.

Birthright was just over an hour of passion and argument with only a few slower moments where I could catch my breath. Watching it was an intense and enjoyable experience and it was just the right length to maintain the intensity.

With Birthright, Finborough continues its good habit of rediscovering old plays and presenting them skilfully. It is another fine example of just how good small theatre can be.