The Walworth Farce is a blisteringly energetic and unapologetically complex play by Enda Walsh; an exceptionally funny and engaging piece, which exhilarates and upsets in equal measure. The play veers between a haphazard farce and something much more frightening, and director Mikel Murfi handles this tricky combination with real flair and control. The company, Druid, never allows itself or its audience to settle; the result is an absorbing and stimulating production, which explores the intractable bond between family members and the way we end up trapping those we mean to protect.

We’re thrown into unfamiliar territory from the start, with Dinny ferociously directing his sons in a play of their own making. This fireball of a play-within-a-play kicks off the play proper, and it is only when the cracks appear that the audience starts to question what they’re watching. As the sons’ performances slip and the props begin to go astray, we realise the desperation underpinning this skit is there for a reason: these two grown-up boys are petrified of ruining their father’s show. As the play progresses the significance of this family’s endless performance - a retelling of their sudden move from the idyllic Cork to the eclectic but dingy Walworth Road – accelerates, and the secrets it hides begin to emerge.

The family’s play falters as sons Sean and Blake start to question the credibility and worth of their father’s narrative. Denis Conway’s performance as Dinny is captivating and at times lyrical, making it easy to understand how the two sons are trapped by its charms. At one point, Dinny lets rip with a evocative and mesmerising monologue, describing the transition from the comforts of Cork to the terrifying anonymity of London. Dinny’s evocation of the ‘higher building and the smaller me’ captures the fear and pride provoked by this move, as well as the real reason he has trapped his sons: he might be afraid of the big city, but what scares him most, is that his sons might not be.

The actors trust their material implicitly and are not afraid to take risks with the audience. There is a subtlety to this play that might’ve easily been lost in less-skilled hands: Tadhg Murphy and Garrett Lombard as Sean and Blake handle the balance between their ‘real’ selves and their farce selves very well and their subtle performances make for uneasy but fascinating viewing. Rather than pitying these trapped sons, we start to question where they might be happiest. The scariest points are those when we doubt the sons’ desire to escape – sensing that despite their father’s reign of terror, this tiny and limited world is somehow preferable to the unknown terrors lurking in the real-world outside.

There is a frightening symmetry to this production, which cleverly and quietly traps the audience in the same way Dinny traps his sons. As the play darkens and the farce falters, the audience longs for the play-within-the-play to return. Murfi pitches the production perfectly, encouraging the easy laughs at the start and drawing his audience in. Once Murfi starts to tighten the screw, we’re already hooked, and though we might be looking for resolution, we’re also hoping for light relief. As the family’s reality becomes a little too much to bear, their retreat into this amusing and anaesthetising farce becomes our own. When the play finishes we find ourselves trapped too - unable to laugh in light of the play’s revelations, but still desperate for the escape that laughter allows.

Till 29 November 2008