Good With Faces review: tense power play at Summerhall
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- Good With Faces is a two-hander psychological thriller written and directed by Oisín Kearney, running at Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 31 August.
- Patrick McBrearty plays social worker Hegarty and Clodagh Mooney Duggan plays newly single mother Garrick in a cat-and-mouse interview about a bruise on her son, where Hegarty already knows the answers to his own questions.
- Kearney previously collaborated with Michael Patrick on "My Left Nut," a 2018 fringe hit that later transferred to television, and the reviewer suggests Good With Faces could follow the same path.
- The play uses a web of motifs — mundane objects like a glass of milk and nail clippings — to carry unnerving meaning, supported by Katie Richardson's discordant sound design and pregnant pauses.
- The reviewer praises the 60-minute production as "hugely assured," "bold and engrossing," and a "considered examination of blurred professional and personal lives impacted by a harsh economic climate."
Why it matters: The review positions Good With Faces as a potential crossover success following Kearney's earlier "My Left Nut," which moved from the 2018 fringe to television. With its run at Summerhall ending 31 August, the play's sharp examination of care work and professional boundaries could attract further programming attention from TV commissioners.
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