Reviews

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Reviewed by Donald Mahoney on 10 February 2012 30 Jan - 29 March, 2012 (on tour) in Glór, Ennis

"Life," Macbeth famously declares in Act V of Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy, with the armies of Malcolm and Macduff encroaching upon the castle of Dunsinane “is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. They may be the ramblings of man accepting...

Read this review

Zeitgeist by Bernard Field

Reviewed by Siobhán O'Gorman on 07 February 2012 6 – 11 February, 2012 in Town Hall Studio

Bernard Field’s earlier plays, The Early Hours (2010) and Last Train from Holyhead (2009), are tours de force of psychological realism that raise challenging questions. The Dublin-born dramatist endeavours to continue this work by adding to his latest play Zeitgeist another layer of authenticity,...

Read this review

Da by Hugh Leonard

Reviewed by Derek West on 07 February 2012 7 Feb - April, 2012 in the Gate Theatre

Toby Frow’s smoothly-directed revival of what is arguably Leonard’s best play prompts questions about the precise focus of the work. Its surface is unashamedly entertaining, built on a foundation of vivid characterisation. Frow draws poignant performances from his cast - particularly from...

Read this review

The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen, in a new version by Vincent A. O’Reilly

Reviewed by Donald Mahoney on 06 February 2012 6 – 16 Feb, 2012 in The New Theatre

Perhaps given the national tragedy brought on in recent years by feckless building and development, Irish theatre audiences might have a particular soft spot for the existential musings of a world-weary architect. I like to think Vincent A. O’Reilly had this in mind when he decided to reimagine...

Read this review

Brothers in Arms by Sam Millar

Reviewed by Jane Coyle on 03 February 2012 1 Feb - 3 March, 2012 (on tour) in Waterfront Hall, Belfast

Almost eighteen years may have passed since the paramilitary ceasefires were called, but an uneasy, simmering peace continues to hang over Northern Ireland. From time to time, particularly during the summer Marching Season, evidence of the alienation and marginalisation felt within the loyalist communities...

Read this review

Fly Me to the Moon by Marie Jones

Reviewed by Terence Blain on 01 February 2012 31 Jan - 18 Feb, 2012 in Grand Opera House, Belfast

“Wiping piss and shit up for £6 an hour”. That bluntly summarises the job description of Frances and Loretta, the community care workers in Fly Me To The Moon, a new two-hander by Marie Jones which also marks her debut as a stage director. Jones doesn’t explicitly offer the paltry...

Read this review

A Play on Two Chairs by Michael West

Reviewed by Jesse Weaver on 01 February 2012 1 - 4 February, 2012 in Project Arts Centre

In some ways Michael West’s A Play on Two Chairs, written in 1989, should be considered a period piece. When West devised and staged his play as student at Trinity College Dublin, laws allowing the widespread availability of contraception was still being debated, the Celtic Tiger had yet to take...

Read this review

Hostel by Fionnuala Kennedy

Reviewed by Lisa Fitzpatrick on 26 January 2012 20-27 January, 2012 (on tour) in The Playhouse, Derry

Hostel, written and directed by Fionnuala Kennedy, is a short but vivid performance that explores the plight of young women in a homeless hostel in Belfast. The work was first performed for two nights during the Belfast Fringe Festival before Kabosh decided to take it on tour as part of their social...

Read this review

Hollywood Valhalla by Aidan Harney

Reviewed by Harvey O'Brien on 25 January 2012 25 Jan - 11 Feb, 2012 in Bewley’s Café Theatre

Aidan Harney’s play examines a decisive moment in the life of Rock Hudson, the 1950s Hollywood heartthrob who became something more than just an icon in his final days by publicly acknowledging that he had AIDS. Hudson’s sexuality had been an open secret, carefully controlled to preserve...

Read this review

The Family by THEATREclub

Reviewed by Jennifer Lee on 20 January 2012 17 – 28 Jan, 2012 in Project Arts Centre

How do you solve a problem like The Family? Make a cup of tea, of course. But there comes a time when even that – our nation’s reflex action to anything remotely real – becomes an impossible task. Behind the whiter-than-white picket fence perfection cracks appear, holes show, the...

Read this review

« First
« Previous
Page 43 of 81
Go to page:
Next ›
Last »

The content of Irish Theatre Magazine and this web site is solely the opinion of the authors and not necessarily of the editors.

Website design & development by