What starts as writer and performer Vanessa O’Neill’s search to find out who her great-great-grandfather Owen Roe really was turns into a layered, biographical analysis into family and personal history, independence, battling demons and what it means to be forgotten.
In her one-woman play, O’Neill shares with us the stories of her ancestors, tracing back her family tree and slipping into the personae of – among others – her Little Grandma and her father Mike, who’s fighting Alzheimer’s. O’Neill’s gruff stutter and stiff shuffle in imitation of her father is enough to break your heart a little. But it’s not all serious and sombre, as O’Neill’s playful, humorous side continuously peeks back through.
With only a few props and pre-recorded voiceovers and music to aid her, O’Neill narrates as herself, sounding more like she’s thinking aloud than talking to an audience, and it feels natural to follow her thought processes. As the answers to mysteries are revealed – or not – we watch O’Neill discovering things not only about her family but also herself and her sense of place in the world. Although In Search Of Owen Roe is an intensely intimate piece, anyone who has wondered about their origins will find value in it.
