Review: Mortal Sin

📍 Wee Room, Gilded Balloon Teviot

🗓️ 18th August 2026

🎟️ PR Invite

📸 Image Credit: Daniel Byrne

John F Kennedy is dead…and Colm and Peggy want a day off school. Well, Peggy does…Colm takes a bit of convincing!

Mortal Sin is a 60-minute play written by Benjamin Reilly, with Reilly himself taking on the role of Colm and Isolde Fenton playing Peggy. The play follows two best friends growing up in Ireland in the 60s at a time when the church ruled everything. 

The scene is set from the moment you walk into the theatre - with the sound of waves crashing, seagulls flying overhead (as someone who grew up in a small Irish village by the coast myself, I felt very at home sitting there). Colm and Peggy are sitting onstage and you already get a clear sense of who they are before the play even begins. 

Firstly, the play is so well written - each section and every scene rolls into one another seamlessly despite Fenton and Reilly playing multiple characters throughout the performance. From hilarious impressions of  Fr. Ignatius to Sister Assumpta to Colm’s very intimidating father and frightened mother, the pair play these roles with such energy and wonder like they are two Irish kids just telling a story. Their facial expressions throughout the performance are a sight to behold - from Peggy’s passion and wide-eyed excitement to Colm’s more playful and innocent personality to pure terror when things take a turn. 

Throughout the play you really get a sense of the characters in the village - the gossip, the local shopkeepers and really get a sense of how much the Catholic Church has a hold over the village at that time. For Colm, it’s an even more difficult time to live in such a situation - as he can’t really reveal who he is deep down for fear of judgement from the church, the village and his whiskey-drinking father. But maybe they can leave - find a new and better life somewhere else with more opportunities and less judgement and more freedom to be exactly who they are. 

Lighting and sound effects added another layer to the performance, really drawing you into their story and making their lives in Cundannon feel more vivid.

I really didn’t know where this play was going…and to be honest the play’s end took my breath away - I left with a lump in my throat because without giving anything away, the closing lines of this play were so beautifully structured. 

Mortal Sin is an incredibly heartwarming story about two best friends, which also captures the realities of growing up in Ireland at the time. 

Mortal Sin continues its run at Wee Room, Gilded Balloon Teviot until 31 August at 12:20pm.