The Jar

Writer: Myrn Devaney. Performer: Lauren Farrell. Run time: 13.16 mins.

 

“I don’t care if he sees me like this. Better he does.”

A young woman in blue pj’s, her hair undone, is trying to trap a spider. There isn’t anyone else to catch it for her. Eventually she catches it under a jar and they begin a conversation. She doesn’t want to kill it but doesn’t know what else to do with it. So why not have a chat in the meantime? The spider is a blot on her landscape. The living room is large and fancy, artfully decorated it screams togetherness. Which one quickly realises is how our narrator usually is and likes to appear to the world at large. So what has happened?

It is not usual for her to look ‘undone’, to not be wearing makeup, hair styled, clothes stylish and on point. Is it the lockdown that has caused her to stop caring so much about her looks? She would never let ‘him’ see her ‘au naturel’. It is first thing in the morning and she is drinking leftovers out of a champagne glass so it looks like something has shifted in her life. It turns out this is one of the few monologues where the speaker is inside for a different reason; a break up. They were together eight years, he was safe, stable Sam, the perfect match to her: career woman, doctor, professional. He was the one she had decided on. So it came as something as a shock when he suggested a break. How could he feel confident that she wouldn’t want someone else in the years to come, to try something new and see if she had missed out. No. it would be far better to take a break. He wanted her to go off and maybe see someone else. If this sounds like walking into a dead end, they you’d be right. If Friends has taught us anything, it is that a break is never a good idea. A girls holiday in Majorca led to some unsavoury events and now she is home alone and hiding from the world.

One gets the impression that this is the first time she has ‘lost’. That something in her life has broken down and is imperfect. This is reflected in her appearance and in the sneaky thing she does near the end that even though it made sense still surprised. Can the spider help her out of this situation?

As the layers of makeup and effort to be presentable have been peeled away she has become a little sharp, maybe even vindictive at times, but also more real. There is a surprising amount going on in The Jar and it benefits from a second watch (this is one of the few benefits of theatre on screen). Although Farrell is far too young to be playing the character, she and Devaney pull it off in this sharp and layered production shot through with comedy.