Sea Wall review for fun

“Have you seen Sea Wall?”

“Excuse me?”

“I sent you a link last week, it’s less than 4 quid.”

“You just said ‘watch this’, I assumed it’d be free.”

“It’s worth it, trust me.”

“Who’s in it?”

“Andrew Scott.”

“Ok, and?”

“Just Andrew Scott.”

“So what, does he play all the characters?”

“No, it’s a monologue.”

“A half hour monologue?”

“It’s really brilliant, please watch it.”

“What’s it about?”

“Oh, lots of things.”

“Very helpful.”

“Ok, it’s about how we deal with loss, it’s about a man’s relationship to his family, it’s about the existence or nonexistence of god.”

“This isn’t you trying to foist The God Delusion on me again, is it?”

“No, and that was years ago. No; Sea Wall is possibly the best explanation of lack of belief that I’ve ever heard, but it’s not self-righteous at all, and the side of belief is treated with respect and profundity as well.”

“Sounds kind of depressing.”

“No, it’s got funny bits, and Andrew’s character is wry and sweet at the same time.”

“You said it’s a monologue.”

“You can have a character in a monologue; some of the best monologues are from the best characters!”

“Has it got a plot?”

“Sure, but I don’t want to give too much away.”

“You’re the one trying to convince me.”

“Basically it’s the story of Alex’s marriage and how his daughter was born and grew up, and his relationship with his father-in-law.”

“Alex is the character?”

“Yeah.”

“All that in half an hour?”

“I told it was brilliant.”

“Ok, what does a sea wall have to do with it?”

“Everything.”

“Come on.”

“It cuts right to the central metaphor of the play, what I said at the beginning.”

“The bit about loss, etc?”

“Exactly.”

“How many times have you seen it?”

“At least 12.”

“I’m sold.”