The Weir ★★★★★ Harold Pinter Theatre | Sep 11 - Dec 6, 2025


In a desolate pub in the Irish countryside, three regulars gather on a dark night when traumatic memories will spill forth like water over a weir. On this particular occasion, they are joined by a newcomer, a young woman fleeing the city and perhaps her own ghosts. The men cope with the weight of their past through liberal amounts of alcohol and by turning their fears into eerie tales that they share with their guest. In turn, they recount three increasingly unsettling stories, each one less comfortably assimilated into a mere anecdote than the previous. Eventually, the young woman shares her own narrative, and this raw, painful experience is far from shaped into an entertaining tale for a winter’s night. Then comes a final story, told by Jack, played by Brendan Gleeson. This quiet coda suggests that healing might lie not in alcohol, dark humour, or even the redemptive power of fashioning life into literature, but in the simple companionship of others, the kindness of strangers. Veterans Seán McGinley, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Gleeson, all quite wonderfully inhabit their roles as the trio of companions whose banter and bonhomie betray the deep affection they really feel for each other. This is not an easy company to enter, and as the outsider Valerie, Kate Phillips makes a strong, but not always convincing, effort to enter this charmed circle. In a powerful piece of playwriting, Conor McPherson has crafted an apparently simple drama that evokes the charm of rural Ireland, celebrates the redemptive power of storytelling and, despite its final ironic note, affirms the healing of human connection.

Rated: ★★★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Rich Gilligan

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: Panton St, London SW1Y 4DN, UK

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