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Westeros isn’t the only place winter has come. Polar Night transports the audience from the New Theatre in Temple Bar to a desolate Arctic landscape. The one-act play explores family ties and the burden of motherhood against the backdrop of freezing, endless nights, as the cold creeps through the cracks of a lonely home.

The play’s location is crucial to the plot and the stage and costume design of Polar Night succeeds in strongly capturing a sense of place, with coal fires and winter coats galore. Delving beyond visuals, it experiments with anticipatory moments of silence, pregnant gaps in the dialogue that feel as expansive as an ice sheet. Frequent darkened transitions between scenes detract from the flow of the story, but are, in their own way, a frequent reminder of the darkness that exists both outside and within the family’s home.

The plot unfurls slowly; an impressive feat for a performance of only fifty minutes. It moves at its own pace, and like the sun rising after an endless winter, reveals itself inch by inch. When college graduate Rose reunites with her mother Helen after a ten year separation, each must attempt to reconcile with each other in their own way. As it becomes increasingly difficult for them to close the abyss that time has carved between them, a frightful future threatens to steal the time that remains. Polar Nights presents aspects of motherhood that are often swept under the rug as it questions what a parent owes their child and what a child can be expected to repay.

Although the concept is interesting, I felt Polar Nights did not delve deeply enough. As an audience member, I found it difficult to be emotionally attached to the characters, to empathise with or to root for them due to an utter lack of character development. Even within the time constraints, one expects more than the lacklustre, archetypal characters Polar Night offers. Disappointingly, there is no trace of growth or change among the characters, nor do they have any credible redeeming characteristics to begin with.  I was quite apathetic to how the show would end. It was mildly entertaining to watch it play out, but I experienced no feeling of investment in the story or desire for any particular outcome. Better use could also have been made of the space available. With the action being predominantly confined to a couch and chair, it felt stilted, awkward, and to be frank, lifeless.

Overall, Polar Night possesses an interesting concept but underwhelming execution. However, it has the potential to be improved with changes that enliven the script and characters.

Polar Night runs at the New Theatre until 23 September.