One of the things I love about being a reviewer is not having a clue what I am going to see or what is going to happen when I am comfortably seated, and the lights go down. To paraphrase an old idiom, you agree to review and you takes your chance. So, it was last night as I battled through the cold and rain to visit the White Bear Theatre for Brendan Murray’s new play, Learning How to Dive.
A few days after his father’s funeral, Matt (Darren Cheek) comes to visit Terry (Brendan Murray). The two have never met before and are only meeting now because of something Matt has recently discovered about his father. And he is not happy. He is here to confront Terry, a man he did not know existed until the funeral, but who seems to know an awful lot about Matt and his family.
The second act takes us back to the day of the funeral. Matt and his mother, Jill (Karen Spicer), are back from the hotel where the wake was held. Jill is composed and is preparing to stay with some relatives for a few days to get her away from the house. Matt has to pop back to the hotel to sort out the leftover food with Jill’s friend and confidant, Maureen. Whilst he is gone, Jill takes the opportunity to have a final talk with her husband. She talks of how they met, how they got together, and how their lives together changed over the years. She is finally having that conversation with her husband that the two of them had avoided for over thirty years.
Just before we went into the auditorium last night, I was chatting with another reviewer and saying that nothing this year so far had blown me away. Well, Learning How to Dive certainly did. Brendan Murray has written two separate but entwined plays that really hit the spot as far as storytelling goes. Putting them in the order – the first after the funeral, the second, on the day of the funeral – really worked as a narrative trick. It meant we, the audience, knew the truth before Jill and Matt. It also meant we were kept on the edge of our seats as Jill got closer to finding the smoking gun that both confirmed her fears and told her how wrong she was. I can honestly say I have never watched someone pick up a suitcase and open it with more trepidation. I was so connected with the scene that I wanted to jump out of my seat, take it off Jill, and stop her from finding out. Superb writing.
Acting-wise, and again, nothing to fault here. Brendan Murray’s portrayal of Terry was masterful. Terry could be thought of and played in many ways to make the audience love or hate him, but Murray portrays him, as he is, a man who, as happens in real life, one day realised he was old. He now had nothing but cherished memories of happy times mingled with a knowledge of what he had lost out on. A man who just wants some company and contact in his twilight years. By contrast, Darren Cheek’s Matt starts the play as someone who has come to confront Terry, not befriend him. While there is little direct manifestation of how he is feeling, you could see just below the surface, pent-up emotions ready to be unleashed on this man. The power of the performance is how his emotions change as he, like so many sons and daughters before him, finally realise that his father was not some sort of super-hero but was just a man. As human and fallible as any other, and brilliantly reflected by Cheek. Having seen two great performances in the first act, nothing could have prepared me for the truly superb acting that was coming from Karen Spicer. Some people can hold a stage simply by walking onto it, and Spicer is one of those. From the first moment, I was mesmerised by her. Whilst Matt tops and tales the second act, it belongs to Jill as she has that final conversation with her husband and gets closer to the final revelation. Spicer played it beautifully and completely took me by surprise at the end. This was a superb performance of a woman saying goodbye to her husband and hello to the truth, whilst, in a perfect example of feminine poise and self-restraint, holding it all together for the sake of her family. Wonderful.
How to sum up Learning How to Dive? Well written and acted does not come close. This was a fabulous piece of writing with three outstanding performances. Sometimes with a show, I would like to know what happens next, but in this case, I feel the audience should demand a third act. You are so connected to and involved with the three characters that it is only natural to want to know more. From entering the theatre being wet, miserable, and wishing I was home instead, I left having experienced pure theatre at its absolute best. An awesome night.
Review by Terry Eastham
What do you say when you answer the door to a man you’ve never met before?
Especially when you’ve known him for 30 years?
Where do you start? Where does it end?
And how about discovering your husband of fifty years is not who you thought he was? What then?
By turns tense and tender, Learning How to Dive tells the story of three people and the shared loss they find themselves facing.
Directed by Willie Elliott
featuring Damn Cheek Co-Artistic Directors Darren Cheek and Karen Spicer
and award-winning playwright Brendan Murray
LEARNING HOW TO DIVE
White Bear Theatre
10 to 21 February 2026
