Reviews

The Absence of Women by Owen McCafferty

Reviewed by Pádraic Whyte on 11 February 2010 8 - 27 February, 2010 (on tour 4 - 13 March) in Elmwood Hall, Belfast

Although set in a bleak London hostel, this is a play about Belfast: about the people who were forced to leave its geographic location but bound to carry with them memories of their home place. Owen McCafferty’s thought-provoking new play brings us on a series of journeys with the protagonists,...

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Haunted by Edna O'Brien

Reviewed by Emilie Pine on 09 February 2010 8 - 13 February, 2010 in Gaiety Theatre, Dublin

Edna O’Brien’s new play, Haunted, displays a light, comic touch. The dialogue between husband and wife, Jack (Niall Buggy) and Gladys Berry (Brenda Blethyn) swings between taut repartee and tender ritual exchanges. The writing here is sharp and forceful and the actors relish the opportunity...

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Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Reviewed by Breda Shannon on 09 February 2010 4 February - 26 March, 2010 in Town Hall Theatre, Galway (on tour)

The current Second Age production of Hamlet, with Marty Rea in the title role, interprets the Danish prince as less the hesitant decision maker or manic depressive, and more the savvy political inheritor of his royal blood. Although it is the annual offering from the Leaving Cert syllabus, this production...

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The Party, after Anton Chekhov by Caitríona Ní Mhurchú and Sophie Motley

Reviewed by Sara Keating on 05 February 2010 2 - 20 February, 2010 in Bewley’s Cafe Theatre

Anton Chekhov’s short stories are miniatures of characterisation, and a variety of writers have made the connection between their taut narrative voices and the tone of his plays by adapting them for the stage, the most notable of adaptations being by Brian Friel. The frustrated young wife and mother...

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Bad Faith by O.J. Ryan

Reviewed by Patrick Brennan on 05 February 2010 1 - 6 February, 2010 in T36, Teacher’s Club

Not to be confused with the Sartrean notion of playing out a role of inauthentic being, the bad faith of the title of this production by a new Irish company has more to do with flawed religious belief and its psychological trappings, as well as the folly of trusting too much in personal figures of authority....

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Faith Healer by Brian Friel

Reviewed by Patrick Lonergan on 05 February 2010 27 January - 20 February in Gate Theatre

During the last decade, Owen Roe has emerged as one of Ireland’s very best actors – yet, until now, he’srarely filled a major leading role. His performance as the Irishman in Ben Barnes’s 2001 Gigli Concert was astonishing precisely because it was so well matched by Mark Lambert...

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Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim

Reviewed by Pádraic Whyte on 05 February 2010 2 - 13 February, 2010 in Theatre at the Mill, Newtownabbey

In celebrating the opening of their brand new theatre, Theatre at the Mill have taken on an ambitious production set in the dark and murky nineteenth-century streets of London. The tale of Sweeney Todd is known to many and the first song recaps on this urban legend. From the outset, the chorus and ensemble...

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The Girl Who Forgot to Sing Badly by Finegan Kruckemeyer

Reviewed by Derek West on 04 February 2010 29 January - 7 March, 2010 in The Ark

Drizzle and an early-morning start did not dampen the exuberance of the youthful cohort of ‘miniature humans’ gathered in the Ark. For clarification – and pleasure – I was accompanied by a critical friend, Lucy - at seven-and-a-quarter a fully eligible member of the Theatre Lovett...

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House of Crossed Destinies by Deborah Hay

Reviewed by Seona Mac Réamoinn on 03 February 2010 2 - 6 February, 2010 in Project Arts Centre

Take five dancers, one choreographer, five solos, one director, no soundscape, and make of it an evening of engaging dance theatre. This unusual show was a masterclass in how intense, focused work, driven from within the artist, can enhance in every way the concept of performance – especially,...

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Jo Bangles by Dave Lordan

Reviewed by Derek West on 02 February 2010 2 - 6 February, 2010 in The Mill Theatre

David Lordan has been garnering awards as a poet (The Boy in the Ring, 2007) and this is reflected in the language of his first play, Jo Bangles. Lordan is in love with words and the sounds of words, emerging from a fuzzy soundtrack at the start into a textured and variegated verbal tapestry –...

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