DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, NicNac Productions at the Old Fitz Theatre, 13 January-1 February 2026. Photography by Tony Davison
Written in 1984 and set in the Bronx, John Patrick Shanley’s one-act play Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is an intense two-hander that tastes like a prefiguring of the main protagonists in Moonstruck, his Hollywood dramedy hit of 1987. The movie scored Oscars for the playwright and unlikely romantic heroine Cher. (“Get over it!” She yells, as she slaps Nicholas Cage for saying he’s in love with her.)
There are the slightest hints of this sardonic humour in the play as Roberta (Jacqui Purvis), a 31-year-old single mother of a teen boy, munches pretzels and sits on a beer in a deserted and dingy bar. Arriving from across the room, Danny (JK Kazzi) nurses a jug of beer and raw knuckles, while simmering volcanically. He works hard to be obviously menacing, while she is subtle but possibly just as hazardous; time will tell.
Catching up on the production’s first Friday night, there’s a birthday party directly overhead on the pub’s mezzanine level. Consequently, sounds of revelry filter through to the “basement bar”. These unintended SFX lend piquant authenticity to the 75 minutes as Roberta and Danny feel their way across razor-edged shards of broken lives and shattered dreams. The rhythms of their back-and-forth are hypnotic as first one then the other tentatively opens up, then snaps shut again at even a hint of danger, real or imaginary.
Those of a tender disposition might flinch at the ferocity of the play’s opening minutes as Danny’s explosive hostility almost conceals his fears, as Roberta presses forward in that sweet way which is designed to antagonise and prompt revelations. Of course, she ends up disclosing more than she at first intends, and the real violence that’s provoked between them also brings out their unexpected and instant connection.
As the inconsequential chatter of happy revellers continues upstairs, something fascinating and profound plays out in the bar below for a riveted audience. Danny fears his own violence and believes he’s killed a guy he hit in a street brawl; Roberta reassures him that he probably didn’t. She reluctantly reveals the origins of her own lack of self-worth in a childhood sexual occurrence; his unlikely tender response is such as to make her momentarily bloom like a slow-motion capture of a rose.
The second act shifts to Roberta’s bedroom and a mattress on the floor, with a candle in a bottle for added romance. The continual shifts of each between self-destruction and terrified hope, and back again is mesmerising. Sex is virtually overlooked as they discover hitherto unknown tenderness and a weird thing that might be identified as kindness. As they fantasise about a proper white wedding and other unlikely events, it’s difficult not to want it all to come true, improbable though the room knows that to be.
Under the deft direction of Nigel Turner-Carroll, Kazzi and Purvis are a thrilling pairing, and individually they also shine. They swap energy and emotion back and forth as the ebb and flow of the text demands. For two people who’ve not known compassion in their lives until this night, their emerging realisation that they want it and somehow recognise it is exhilarating. And also that they can each do compassion, whether they like it or not, is a hopeful beacon in the dark, much like their candle.
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is the least likely fairy story, love story, modern romance and all the more compelling for that. Also captivating is to be a witness to the emergence of two major dramatic talents: Jacqui Purvis and JK Kazzi. Not to be missed.
