Set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, Philadelphia Here I Come is a humorous tale of young Gar O’Donnell (James McMullen) attempting to break free from the monotonous life of provincial Ireland. This play is about the communication, or lack of, between the conservative characters of Gar’s life, with the audience getting an insight into what Gar really thinks via a private version of himself played by Ben Walsh.

Overall this production was well acted with distinct variation between the different characters in Gar’s life, my personal favorite being the terrifically dull Canon Mick O'Byrne (Bret Cameron). The chemistry between the actors was lovely, especially in the scene with Gar's ‘lads’, in which the dialogue was appropriately witty and familiar.

James was particularly strong in the demanding lead role of Gar, maintaining good energy throughout. His acting was high quality and consistent, with him ranging effortlessly between feeling of excitement about the future, and regret and disappointment about the past. James’ accent was also the most convincing of the cast (although the accents were generally high quality) making me wonder whether he is actually Irish.

Ben Walsh had some lovely moments as the private Gar. He also maintained a good energy even in the long stretches in which he was the only one who talked, and delivered his part well. However, his part would of benefitted from more light and shade, with Ben sometimes over projecting and dramatizing moments that didn’t need it. This made his character occasionally come across as aggressive, which I felt didn’t fit with the overall playful nature of the play. I also think this meant the humour of his character sometimes did not reach its full potential. That said, Ben definitely has comic timing and slipped between different accents and impressions with ease.

I am usually not a fan of multi-rolling in plays, however in Philadelphia Here I Come this worked well. With clever use of body language and costume, it was evident to the audience that new characters were being presented every time. Emma Corrin was particularly successful, seamlessly transitioning from the love interest Katie to one of Gar’s laddish, but nervous friends. The ensemble in general presented a cohort of funny, original characters.

One criticism I would have of this production is that it was often a little confusing. It took a while for the relationships between the characters to become clear, and occasionally moments happened without much explanation, such as the argument between Madge (Megan Dunne) and Gar’s father (Charlie Connor). Although the main storyline was clear, I felt certain subplots were rushed over, such as what had happened to Gar’s mother and his aunts. It would have been nice to see more made of important lines that revealed details about the character’s pasts.

A strength of this production was the lighting, which was used creatively to suggest to different rooms, introduce flashbacks, or imitate emotions in certain scenes. Whilst the varied lighting made the play visually interesting, I found the set something to be desired. The set that was there was delightful, such as the records and socks strewn on Gar’s floor, but it just needed more. Set can be an easy and effective way of setting a period, place, or tone of a production, but a lot of space was left blank in this production. I also wasn’t convinced by the decision to suspend so much of the set on chains from the ceiling rather than securing it.

Philadelphia Here I Come is a competently put together, and performed production. It manages to strike a lovely balance between being light hearted and playful whilst also generally quite moving.