Prominent American playwright John Patrick Shanley dedicated one of his finest plays, an early work DANNY AND THE BLUE SEA to, ’everyone in the Bronx who punched me or kissed me and to everyone I punched or kissed.’ As.you can imagine from such a dedication, DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA is a very visceral experience.
This is the set up…As we take our seats in the theatre. Roberta sits on a bar chair, looking glum, sullen and deeply unhappy.
The lights come up on the very down Roberta, and before we are able to catch our breath, Danny races madly on to the stage and then out an exit door. Then, before we know it, he grabs the seat at the other bar table. Starts drinking his beer. Very agitated.
There we have a very clear presentation of our two only characters. Two very disgruntled, agitated young people.
And then…Roberta starts making conversation with him and Danny goes in to conniptions…a kind of ‘are you talking to me’ aka Robert de Niro like rave. Danny goes on to punching the wall. This guy is bad news. If Roberta had any sense at all, she would keep her misery, after all it is not going anywhere anytime soon, and clear out of that dingy Bronx bar quick smart.
But, of-course, then we wouldn’t have a play! Shanley’s play is all about the exchanges and the relationship that develops between these Bronx fringe-dwellers, these two outsiders.
Nic Nac’s current revival is a very fine production of a play with strong themes. Both Roberta and Danny are guilt ridden, for very different reasons. They have no self worth,and feel that they can’t be helped.
The thing is that they see that helpless quality in each other, feel sorry for them, and try to help them. A difficult situation. You will have to see the show to see how this plays out.
Both Jacqui Purvis as Roberta and J.K.Kazzi as Danny give powerful performances. Perhaps the intensity could have been pulled back a bit at times, (I noticed that the friend I went with winced at one time), but, my God, how does one change that, when it is such a highly charged play?!
The creative team impressively set up Shanley’s dark world. Director Nigel Turner-Carroll’s staging worked well. The play has been written in two acts however Turner-Carroll has chosen to run the play straight through. He has the cast deftly transform the stage from the the dingy Bronx bar to Roberta’s modest bedroom.
Poppy Townsend lit the stage well from the very start. Chaii Ki Chapman’s score was effective and atmospheric. Tamsyn Coetzee’s costuming of Roberta and Danny reflected their characters well.
If you like high drama when you go to see a play, try and see this show before it closes this Saturday night.
Nic Nac Production’s revival of John Patrick Shanley’s DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE is having a relatively brief season at the Old Fitz. It started on the 13th January and the season closes this Saturday 1st February 2026.
Production photography by Tony Davison
