Stage Review POOR
- debra Hall
- May 8
- 3 min read
Stage Review
Poor
writer - Katriona O'Sullivan
Adaptor - Sonya Kelly
Director - Roisin McBrinn
Overview
A true story from the memoir of Katriona O'Sullivan. A bright little girl, born into a hard up family with parents that had addictions.
Her Irish father had moved to Coventry, in or around the late 60s early 70s, met the mother and so stayed. He was dealing drugs from the house sometimes. He was a chain smoker, a cheat and a compulsive liar and was in and out of prison for his crimes. Mother, was disengaged, a victim of a harsh childhood herself and had totally lost her way as a functioning adult with dependents.
Therefore, a story of sad circumstance as Katriona and her siblings were neglected children and often hungry.
The family moved from one home to another, all three having West Midland postcodes with reputations of being rough, deprived urban areas. This meant a certain kind of stigma continued to follow Katriona around. At just fifteen, she found herself pregnant and homeless; she'd hit rock bottom.
So she, her young son and the parents moved to Ireland, with a fresh start in mind.
Katriona still had obstacles to overcome and it was not all plain sailing at first, but after taking up study of more than one subject and sitting her exams, she, ultimately, gained a PhD from Trinity College, Dublin. Katriona ends up being a high achiever.
Comment
Vulnerable children from homes that have poor socioeconomic statuses often carry the burden of all the horrible happenings they had witnessed and been part of. This play unpacks alot of troubling and safe guarding issues and highlights the failures from people with authority to act when they should have.
The topics are raw, as a high level of social blame can lie at the door of people, who themselves, are flawed in character because of the generational trauma they'd experienced and so it goes.
Katriona experienced the worse kind of evils as a minor growing up in an unsafe household, but she also had some kindly souls that stepped up for her along the way and to those people she is forever grateful.
This is a unsettling drama that pulls no punches. It is a disturbing watch at times and sad that this was the cruel start to life that Katriona experienced.
Review
The presence of a young Katriona, played so incredibly endearing and naturalistically well by child actor, Hollie Lawlor, appears alongside Aisling O'Mara in the lead role from the off.
Hollie plays Katriona, aged at around 7 years as she lives her everyday with parents on heroin; we hear her mother shouting requests to run 'errands'; we see her receive visits to her home from strangers and from her father's 'friends'; she is present during police raids on the home; we witness her alienation at school and see her temporarily be moved into care. Though it is, and has to be, O'Mara (playing her child version) who performs the even more traumatic scenes; the scenes with adult content.
And as time moves on, chronologically, little Hollie's continued presence is like a 'Little Miss Sunshine' character, and acts as a reminder of Katriona as she was, and what remains a part of her still, as she grows older. This is a dramatic device that works well at deepening emotional impact on the audience.
This is a challenging role for O'Mara, but she is there, in every scene, showing a tenderness to little Katriona, forgiveness to a regretful father, acting out the tough bits; breaking into song; dancing in the clubs; drinking in the bars. Then to convince that Katriona is on the track of being upwardly mobile towards the end is no mean feat either.
Many positives: the superb scriptwriting and direction, wonderful design work and a great cast to boot. Poor does weigh heavy too and there is much to unpack long after one has left the auditorium; so although Poor is completely draining and a mood hoover this is not meant as a negative remark.
And it is not all dark! Rather surprisingly, this production demonstrates a flair for the fun and theatrical and includes the performance of songs of Fleetwood Mac and the team song of Coventry City Football.
Age rating 15+
Stage Review POOR by theatre critic, Debra Hall who attended Poor at The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry on Thursday 07 May 2026 at 2pm
REFERENCES
Pollard, M. Press Night invitation - Poor - Belgrade Theatre, Coventry - Tuesday 5th May, 7pm ANRPR 08 April 2026
Belgrade Theatre https://www.belgrade.co.uk/events/poor/
Instagram @belgradetheatre
Below is the real life Dr Katriona O'Sullivan speaking on press night.
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