Midwinter Break

Stella (Lesley Manville) and Gerry (Ciarán Hinds) are comfortably in love and gently into retirement. Though removed from their original home of Dublin and slightly at a distance from their adult son, the years have brought an effortless closeness. Yet when they take a holiday to Amsterdam, the past rolls from the shadows, and fissures open up between the couple. 

While it would be a delight to see actors of the calibre of Ciarán Hinds and Lesley Manville do almost anything together, Midwinter Break is a beautifully drawn two-hander that is a match for their talents. Covering the turbulence of history as well as the divergent ways that we come to terms to with it, Midwinter Break is a fantastic debut by Olivier-award-winning theatre director Polly Findlay.