OUR New Girl at The Lyric Theatre has all the hallmarks of a TV drama. And that’s not surprising considering it’s written by award-winning Irish screenwriter and playwright Nancy Harris, the writer behind the TV series ‘The Dry’.
Taking place around a kitchen island in Hazel and husband Richard’s middle-class London home, things are strained between the pair with Hazel nearing the end of her pregnancy with the couple’s second child, and doctor husband Richard off again saving the world, this time in Haiti. Hazel, who’s weighed down with paperwork from her new start-up business that she’s running from the kitchen while raising her hard to reach six-year-old son, craves the support from her absent partner.
So far, so predictably middle-class, I hear you say, but that's about to change.
POWERPLAY: Hazel, Annie and Richard
To ease the burden on his wife, Richard employs a nanny without her knowledge and the play begins with a confused Hazel (Lisa Dwyer Hogg) face-to-face with Annie (Jeanne Nicole Ní Áinle) who’s arrived from Sligo and is reluctant to return to the agency which sent her.
This is no modern day Mary Poppins. Annie makes herself at home and is able to connect with young Daniel (played on this occasion by Canice Doran, although the role is shared with Milo Payne during the duration of the production).
Enter the returning plastic surgeon Richard who can’t wait to once more get away from the monotony of mole removals and botox injections at his swanky London clinic and head off on his next humanitarian mission.
But with Richard's return and Annie's arrival, the dynamic in the household starts to shift as the sexual tension between the nanny and husband grows. The under-pressure Hazel is no longer the sole parent but that doesn't mean that her burden has been eased. The audience is well aware that this psychological drama is heading inevitably to the dark side.
Richard has no emotional connection with his pregnant wife, talking endlessly about his field work. Annie, who used to stand outside the kitchen drawing on her vap during family discussions, is now sitting on the island and it is Hazel who is outside looking in.
LOOKING ON: Daniel, played by Canice Doran, with mum Hazel (Lisa Dwyer Hogg)
And then there is Daniel – a by-product of his parent’s set-up – whose increasingly erratic behaviour is creating a further strain in a relationship that on the face of it – like their kitchen extension – should be perfect, but whose foundations are crumbling under the surface.
The four cast members are convincing in their roles and carry the drama. Young Canice Doran with his midnight forays into the kitchen is unnerving and puts you in mind of Damien from Omen.
Scene changes are marked with a blacked out stage, lit up around the edge like a huge widescreen TV, blurring the lines between stage and television. Don't be surprised to see Our New Girl at a streaming service near you.
Our New Girl runs at the Lyric Theatre until 4 May. Tickets are available here.
