EDFRINGE REVIEW: Our Brothers In Cloth (Poke The Bear Productions)

Our Brothers in Cloth - ★★★★☆ – Gripping

Poke the Bear Productions
31 Jul-25 Aug
Review by Rebecca Mahar
 
Our Brothers in Cloth from Poke the Bear Productions is a gripping look at how a man and his community respond to the revelation of the clerical child sexual abuse that contributed to his brother’s suicide.
 
Set in rural Ireland in 1995, Our Brothers in Cloth focuses on Alan Kinsella, whose brother Chris has recently committed suicide, and his quest for answers and justice following his discovery that the recently departed parish priest, Father Mulvaney, abused Chris as a child.

Our Brothers in Cloth promotional image.

 
Ronan Colfer’s script, directed with precision by Ryan McVeigh, takes on a fraught and topic with raw honesty. To Alan it is obvious that Mulvaney must be brought to justice, but others refuse to believe the accusations even when other incidents are brought to light, including his own mother, resulting in explosive conflict. The roots-deep hold of the Catholic church on the community and the complexity of its relationship with Ireland muddies the waters, to say nothing of the church’s own institutional shielding of predators.
 
Each member of the company brings a different facet to the reaction of a community to the revelation of clerical child sexual abuse in their midst, showing the turmoil, fear, and anger that follow.
 
Jake Douglas as Alan skilfully handles the anger, grief, disbelief, and hope all roiling inside his character. Douglas manages the build of Alan’s furious incredulity throughout the piece with superb tension as each new piece of information, disappointment, or interaction comes his way.
 
As Alan and Chris’s mother, Martina, Rosalind Stockwell brings fiery defiance to a mother trying to do her best in the wake of tragedy. Though the audience knows Martina is mistaken in her defence of Mulvaney, Stockwell manages to make the character somewhat sympathetic: she may be wrong, but her faith and desperation expose one of the many layers that contribute to how this type of abuse was, and continues to be, perpetuated.
 
Another standout is Kevin Glynn as Father Seamus O’Donovan, Mulvaney’s replacement. Working to support and counsel Martina and Alan after Chris’s death, he too his hit with the bombshell of his colleague’s abuse, and must grapple with the conflict between his duty of care and loyalty to the church. Glynn navigates O’Donovan’s horror and confusion with subtlety, the response of a mediator whose safe ground is suddenly in flames.
 
Our Brothers in Cloth takes on its subject without fear, refusing to sugarcoat or to ignore the idea that, even without meaning to, ordinary “good people” can contribute to the continuation of cycles of abuse. The play thrusts to the fore the idea that speaking up is essential, but may not be enough: higher profiles must be raised, institutional changes made, and challenges cast into the teeth of those who refuse to listen. It speaks to survivors: you are not alone, or forgotten.
 
Running time: One hour with no interval
Venue: Assembly George Square Studios (Studio Five), George Sq. EH8 9LH
31 July – 25 August 2025
Time: 12:15pm
Tickets: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/our-brothers-in-cloth