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Set in 1916, Hugo Hamilton’s The Mariner, which is currently running at The Gate Theatre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival, tells the story of Cork man, Peter Shanley – a disgraced and heavily bandaged seafarer who returns home from the Royal Navy after the Battle of Jutland. He is met with a mother and wife who struggle to reconcile the image of broken man with the son and husband who left them to fight in the First World War. Hamilton’s tale is perhaps a familiar one of war and domesticity, with the former looming in the background, having brought about irrevocable and catastrophic change upon the familial space.

Hamilton may establish the action of The Mariner in the domestic sphere, but the home of Mrs Shanley, Peter’s mother, becomes a private battleground where fights are largely lost, rather than won. Mrs Shanley (Ingrid Craigie), struggles to accept the man before her as her beloved son, Peter (Sam O’Mahony), whilst his wife Sally (Lisa Dwyer Hogg), is convinced that this is the same man who left her to fight the day after they got married. The conflict between a loving but suffocating mother and a purportedly self-interested wife is at the fore of the drama and whilst The Mariner ostensibly becomes a story about mothers and sons, Hamilton exposes themes of loyalty, sacrifice and national identity.

Even with Hamilton’s largely domiciliary grounding, the politics of 1916 are subtly perceptible in each of the three characters. Arguably, Mrs Shanley is depictive of Unionist Ireland, viewing change with fear and antipathy, whilst Sally is representative of the voice of Republicanism – recognising and accepting that change is inevitable and at times, necessary. Their motives and beliefs are inherently different and Peter’s crippled body becomes a politicised and metaphorical war zone over which both women come into conflict.

Joe Vanek’s sparse and ghostly set works well in echoing Peter’s sporadic account of what happened in Jutland and for the most part, Patrick Mason directs a nuanced and sophisticated delivery of Hamilton’s writing. Ingrid Craigie is exceptional as Mrs Shanley and offers one of the most credible and raw performances of the ninety-minute drama.

Yet, the denouement plunges towards tragedy and resolution with an expediency that is perhaps out-of-kilter with the more subtle elements of the build-up set forth in the earlier moments of the play. However, even if The Mariner’s cacophonous climax approaches the melodramatic, it doesn’t take away from the rest of the play, which is filled with heart-breaking laments and tragic elegy.

The Mariner  is running at The Gate Theatre until October 25.