Rough for Theatre I depicts an unsighted man (Trevor Knight) and a wheelchair user (Raymond Keane), both seemingly homeless, locked in a struggle to fulfill their needs. Human touch is one, and other types of ‘contact’ – visual, aural, contact with history via memory. Their relationship is sometimes combative, sometimes tender to the point of erotic, and Beckett gives us only a snippet of their story in this short drama that ends mid-action.

The metatheatre in Company SJ and Barabbas’ site-specific staging almost derails the production. The programme invites patrons to consider their environment as they walk to and around an empty parking lot on the Quays after meeting at the Screen Cinema, and “note the contrasting architectures of social decay”. Walking from the venue after, the sight of Dublin’s actual homeless undercuts this sociopolitical scaffolding. Fortunately it also reinforces your sense of the power of Beckett’s humanity precisely because he strips away sociological context.

Knight and Keane are engaging and entertaining in conveying the exaggerated and expressive rhythms and hues of this relationship in the brief time we are given with the characters. In the atmospheric outdoor setting with strategic lighting by Lianne O’Shea, director Sarah Jane Scaife presents a clear, enjoyable work that also comes with hot Cocao after. The theatre is marvelous and the production excellent, but this is not documentary, and reality is best left out of it.

Star rating: ★★★★