The God Box: A Daughter's Story

You might think, from the title of Mary Lou Quinlan and Martha Wollner’s play, that it is about to grapple with faith. Instead, it is more directly concerned with bereavement – specifically, how Quinlan coped with the suffocating grief that followed her mother’s death.

The eponymous “god box” gives that grief a focus. The little wicker container acted as a depository for all of Quinlan’s mother’s hopes, dreams and fears, documenting her life in polite notes to the deity in whom she utterly trusted. Dear God, please let my son get that job. Dear God, please look after my husband. Dear God, please let the cancer go away.

Quinlan found that box following her mother’s death, prompting the memories and reflections that she now performs. The show is a patchwork of rose-tinted childhood recollections and dreary hours spent in hospitals, all acting as a loving tribute to Quinlan’s frantically praying, stubbornly optimistic mother.

The problem, however, is that The God Box has little to say other than publicly declaring loss. The good intentions of the project can’t be faulted—all proceeds of this run in Edinburgh are going to Macmillan Cancer Support—but no piece of theatre can subsist on good intentions alone.

The telling of Quinlan’s story is not compelling enough to sustain concentration for a full hour, while its most interesting aspects, such as Quinlan’s own faltering faith and her eventual critique of looking forever on the bright side, are given only glancing attention. Emotional, certainly, but not always engaging.