Owing large thanks to the fame of Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, BAFTA nominee and his recent marriage to Saoirse Ronan), The Fifth Step has been a hard ticket to wrangle this festival. Opening with a frank discussion about God and spirituality between newbie, Luka (Jack Lowden) and his sponsor – seasoned AA-er (Alcoholics Anonymous), James (Sean Gilder, also of Slow Horses) David Ireland’s play explores the shadows of loneliness cast by alcoholism. New to the Fellowship, Luka faces the first few steps of ‘the Big Book.’ Step Two prescribes turning to a higher power for anchorage. What higher power? Luka asks. God or spirituality exists in many forms, replies James. He could be a paper cup.
Milla Clark’s set design is excellent. Ireland captures the selfish volatility of alcoholics, and the pair have great chemistry. However, the repetitive cry of ‘but I’m not gay, (I’m fine with it), but I’m NOT GAY’ oozes with Gen X homophobia as Ireland explores men wrestling with the discomfort of bisexuality in a dated manner.
Ireland’s stylistic humour punches dark one-liners into the script, often punching down; Luka is young, working-class with a propensity for four-letter words and a loose understanding of the nuances of Christianity. He is lonely; Luka’s porn consumption and drinking are all efforts to self-soothe. Finding God through a hallucinogenic encounter with Willem Dafoe at the gym, Ireland uses Luka to highlight how modern masculinity suffers the conspicuous absence of structure and spirituality. Isolated men are susceptible – they have been left to cluster a sense of self from contradictory sources as flimsy as a paper cup.
Luka’s foil, James – avuncular, older and educated – ‘a recovering Catholic’ who dips the occasional toe into the vulgarity of Luka’s prose for audience laughs has a different understanding of self. James is confident in his disavowment of Christianity – he tries to be a good father; his son is his self-proclaimed ‘best friend.’ Both have fallen victim to the gyre of paternal abuse and squirm to break the pattern. However, James’ vitriolic rant towards the end employs uncharacteristic, uncomfortable and unnecessary violence. Overall, in painting the Twelve Steps of AA, David Ireland unfortunately misses a few.
Words by Josephine Jay
