Reviews

Disco Pigs by Enda Walsh

Reviewed by Karen Fricker on 09 September 2011 2 - 28 September, 2011 in Young Vic (Clare Studio)

Disco Pigs was a risky choice for Cathal Cleary, winner of the prestigious JMK Trust award, which enables an emerging director to stage a production at the award’s host theatre (this year the Young Vic). This was, of course, the play that gave Enda Walsh (and Cillian Murphy) to the world: Pat Kiernan’s...

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Blackbird by David Harrower

Reviewed by Tom Maguire on 08 September 2011 8 - 24 September, 2011 (on tour) in Lyric Theatre (Naughton Studio)

David Harrower’s Blackbird is not an easy or straightforward play. Its narrative brings face-to-face Ray, a middle-manager in a small town factory, with Una, a woman in her late twenties who he abused when she was twelve. She has returned to confront him, to wreak a kind of revenge for the years...

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Cosas by Angelica Santander

Reviewed by Derek West on 06 September 2011 6 - 17 September, 2011 in Filmbase, Dublin

Clowning is a restrictive kind of art form, imposing strict discipline and conventions on its practitioners - no speech, expression broad rather than nuanced, a tendency towards the absurd, a clear and uncomfortable incongruity between the individual and the environment. Angelica Santander, the lone...

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Faith Healer by Brian Friel

Reviewed by Breda Shannon on 03 September 2011 26 Aug - 5 November, 2011 in Town Hall Theatre

When Lalor Roddy’s darkened body, only his mouth illuminated, takes to the stage reciting place names of Welsh villages in a concentrated, pained and panicked tone, Frank Hardy is once again re-imagined as the tortured roving healer endowed with the gift of healing and the propensity to con. Ralph...

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Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard

Reviewed by Fintan Walsh on 27 August 2011 27 Aug – 10 Sept, 2011 in Abbey Theatre

It’s not often a lamb gets to upstage a penis, but in Jimmy Fay’s production of Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class (1978), this succession of surprise appearances is crucial to establishing the performance’s unnerving blend of humour and carnality. Shortly after the play...

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Holy Mary by Eoin Colfer

Reviewed by Derek West on 26 August 2011 22 Aug - 10 Sept, 2011 in Bewleys Café Theatre (on tour)

Holy Mary, Eoin Colfer’s 55-minute piece, deals with the perennial themes of Catholicism and bullying. It explores territory so wonderfully worked in Frank O’Connor’s 'First Confession'. The fear and apprehension around sin and guilt, confession, and penance are all there. Colfer does...

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Come Forward to Meet You by Upstate Theatre Project

Reviewed by Sheena Madden on 26 August 2011 25 - 27 august, 2011 in Oldbridge House, Drogheda

Isn’t it funny how silence seems to amplify all sounds? A heavy door creaking in a distant corridor; the illicit whispers of secret lovers; the painful, hushed tones of a lullaby to a dead child… How difficult it must have been for the servants who lived and worked in Irish stately homes...

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It Only Ever Happens in the Movies by National Youth Theatre

Reviewed by Susan Conley on 24 August 2011 24 - 27 August, 2011 in Peacock Theatre

The course of true love never did run smooth, particularly when you’re getting rubbishy advice from Cillian Murphy. The National Youth Theatre’s yearly productions are more often than not plays of the canon, updated to appeal not only to youthful audiences, but also to their youthful performers....

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Guerilla Days in Ireland by Tom Barry, adapted for stage by Neil Pearson

Reviewed by Rachel Andrews on 23 August 2011 23 Aug - 03 Sept, 2011 in Everyman Palace Theatre

In 1949, Tom Barry, a former field commander in the Irish War of Independence, published his memoir, Guerilla Days in Ireland. In it, Barry describes the exploits of the 3rd West Cork Brigade, which had become famous for its discipline, efficiency and bravery. Barry himself had garnered a reputation...

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All That Fall by Pan Pan Theatre Company

Reviewed by Patrick Lonergan on 23 August 2011 23 August - 2 September, 2011 in Project Arts Centre

The first thing to say about Pan Pan’s performance of Beckett’s 1956 radio play is this: if you’re planning on going to it, please don’t read this review – it would be a shame to spoil the surprise that awaits you. And perhaps the second important point is how refreshing...

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