Reviews

A Lost Opera

Review by
Seona Mac Réamoinn

3 stars

Amy, I want to make you hard

Review by
Jennifer Lee

3 stars

Autobiographer

Review by
Susan Conley

4 stars

Bás Tongue

Review by
Ruth Kennedy

4 stars

Better Loved From Afar

Review by
Jesse Weaver

2 stars

Bird with Boy

Review by
Michael Seaver

5 stars

Body Electric

Review by
Donald Mahoney

4 stars

Chesslaugh Mewash

Review by
Fíona Ní Chinnéide

3 stars

Criminal Queers

Review by
Harvey O'Brien

4 stars

Cult

Review by
Tom Donegan

4 stars

Do You Read Me?

Review by
Donald Mahoney

3 stars

Does Anybody Ever

Review by
Sara Keating

4 stars

Dreams of Love

Review by
Shirley Chance

3 stars

Eternal Rising of the Sun

Review by
Susan Conley

4 stars

Follow

Review by
Derek West

5 stars

Gis A Shot of Your Bongos Mister

Review by
Clara Kumagai

4 stars

Hand Me Down The Moon

Review by
Susan Conley

3 stars

Happening

Review by
Peter Crawley

4 stars

Heidi and the Bear

Review by
Susan Conley

2 stars

In My Bed

Review by
Jesse Weaver

4 stars

It's Your Turn To Change Daddy

Review by
Jennifer Lee

2 stars

Jumping Off The Earth

Review by
Christopher McCormack

3 stars

Last Year

Review by
Jesse Weaver

3 stars

Love Songs For Losers

Review by
Donald Mahoney

3 stars

Luca & the Sunshine

Review by
Tom Donegan

5 stars

MaDam

Review by
Tom Donegan

2 stars

maKe, i mean

Review by
Jesse Weaver

4 stars

My Word Is My Bond

Review by
Derek West

3 stars

Our Father

Review by
Jennifer Lee

4 stars

Pocket Music

Review by
Tom Donegan

3 stars

Seeing and Dreaming

Review by
Jesse Weaver

4 stars

Seekers

Review by
Seona Mac Réamoinn

3 stars

That's About The Size of It

Review by
Susan Conley

3 stars

The Bright Side of the Moon

Review by
Donald Mahoney

2 stars

The Flamboyant Bird

Review by
Jesse Weaver

4 stars

The Yellow Wallpaper

Review by
Tom Donegan

4 stars

Twenty Ten

Review by
Donald Mahoney

4 stars

Welcome to the Forty Foot

Review by
Derek West

3 stars

When Irish Hearts are Praying

Review by
Harry Browne

2 stars

Where Do I Start?

Review by
Jennifer Lee

4 stars
  • Review
  • Theatre

Produced by Melanie Wilson in Smock Alley Theatre

Autobiographer

10 -11 September 2011

Review by Susan Conley

Reviewed 11 September 2011

Absolut Fringe 2011

Autobiographer

In Autobiographer, it initially appears that theatre artist Melanie Wilson is not afraid to leave the audience to its own devices. Programmes were not doled out until it was time to exit, and one glance at the explanatory paragraph felt like an ‘Ah ha!’ moment that had missed its mark. Having drawn my own conclusions, I didn’t feel like being told what the show had been about — what I had decided was good enough for me.
 
Four women represent four periods in the life of one woman, and while the staging was full of movement and richly layered sound cues, it felt cold, distant… and appropriately enough, utterly cerebral — until the last set piece. Suddenly, as the women interacted with the audience members to fill in the gaps of their collective memory, the notion of autobiography changed utterly: it’s not just ourselves, or even our past selves that contain our life stories, but those around us as well.
 
What had been a highly stylized piece of performance became an incredibly moving portrait of a mind that had lost its touchstones. Having been given an explanation at the end seemed unnecessary, and one feels that we should have been left to our own conclusions.

Susan Conley