• Wretched Little Brat @ Sean O Casey Community Centre, Dublin

    November 25, 2015 - By 

    Premiering just two decades after decriminalisation and less than a year after marriage equality, Brian Merriman’s Wretched Little Brat marks a dramatic shift in Irish attitudes toward homosexuality. In a recent interview with Dublin Inquirer, the founder of Dublin’s Gay Theatre Festival remarks how years ago, straight performers balked at the idea of taking on queer characters. Reflecting on the eclectic makeup of his cast, Merriman notes that now ‘they’re delighted to play gay roles’. Wretched Little Brat explores an area central to 20th-century homosexuality, and Merriman’s own fascinations: the life and lovers of the flamboyant Oscar Wilde. While innovative…

  • Beowulf: The Blockbuster @ Project Arts Centre, Dublin

    November 20, 2015 - By 

    Donning the name of one of literature’s most famous epic poems, Bryan Burroughs’ Beowulf: The Blockbuster packs its quaint tale with an emotional punch worthy of the title.  Burroughs, the playwright and star of his own one-man show, premiered this one act two years ago at Dublin’s own fringe festival before taking it on the road across Ireland, the UK, France, and even as far as Australia during which time he’s claimed several honours and esteemed recognition.  Now the work triumphantly returns to Dublin for another limited and popularised engagement. The show begins with a small spectacle of lights heralded…

  • The Matchmaker @ The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin

    November 16, 2015 - By 

    Showcasing two talents of Ireland’s most celebrated comedic actors, the Gaiety’s production of John B. Keane’s The Matchmaker delights audiences in its old-school, but enduring comic tropes. Adapted from Keane’s novella by Phyllis Ryan, the play tells the story of Kerry-raised matchmaker Dicky Mick Dicky and the would-be romantics seeking his help to find a partner. Each character is given a series of letters performed in monologue throughout the two acts, with Dicky and the males played by funnyman Jon Kenny and Dicky’s sister Marge and the females by boisterous leading lady Mary McEvoy. This elderly array of rustic Irish…

  • Gulliver @ The Mac, Belfast

    October 7, 2015 - By 

    What would happen if the legendary Lemuel Gulliver was taken out of his context and setting, fathered a dysfunctional family, and acted as the voices of both sanity and insanity? One knows not what Jonathan Swift would make of this baffling concept, but it is right at home with the ideals of Northern Ireland’s Big Telly Theatre Company, who have become renowned among their fanbase for plucking, bending and breaking every thread in the traditionally theatrical narrative in a uniquely intelligent and idiosyncratic manner. Gulliver is no different, mixing straight pantomime, historical literature, pop culture references, light satire and even…

  • Two Sore Legs @ Lyric Theatre, Belfast

    September 30, 2015 - By 

    A contradictory life gets a compelling presentation in Brenda Murphy’s uniquely intricate tribute to her mother, Two Sore Legs. Performed as a one-act, one-woman show by local actress Maria Connolly and directed by Martin Lynch, the production arrives at Belfast’s Lyric in the wake of rave reviews at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival and a successful tour of Northern Ireland and Monaghan. Little wonder, then, that the relatively full auditorium is alive with excitable chatter and anticipation before the show has even begun. And the prominence of light brown wood on stage, in the coffin and chair that lie there, hints at…

  • Withnail & I @ Strand Arts Centre, Belfast

    September 17, 2015 - By 

    Only a fool or a visionary would stage a live version of the finest portfolio of filmed quotes known to man. What fucker said that? This fucker. Just there. I was at the Strand Arts Centre last weekend for Kandu Theatre Company’s notionally foolhardy attempt to wrestle Withnail and I into submission for the stage. Free cake and a wine was promised as a sweetener. But for most in the sold out audience, it was the “bring your own” aspect that had us suitably primped in anticipation for the antics ahead. First things first – Bruce Robinson’s script is a…

  • Tipping Point @ Ulster Museum, Belfast

    September 14, 2015 - By 

    Tipping Point, the latest production from Belfast’s Maiden Voyage Dance company, has been described as “a fast-paced trio about the loss of control, how we deal with interruptions to our intended path and how it feels to be living on a knife edge.” With all that in mind, the title and arrival of Eleesha Drennan’s piece is both evocative and timely. At the time of its opening performance in the foyer of the Ulster Museum, Stormont is in crisis and a new Labour leader has recently been elected on the other side of the Irish Sea. Change has unexpectedly arrived,…

  • Dancing at Lughnasa @ Lyric Theatre, Belfast

    September 9, 2015 - By 

    It’s 25 years since Brian Friel’s domestic drama Dancing At Lughnasa hit the stage of Dublin’s Abbey Theatre though the themes of Diaspora and chronic under-employment are, if anything even more relevant today. Seen through the eyes of seven year old Michael Evans, it’s the tale of a family of close knit sisters who scratch out a living in 1936 Donegal, primarily supported by the teacher’s salary of the eldest sister, the puritanical Kate. With the simple-minded Rose and maternal Agnes sewing gloves for a pittance and the earthy, fun loving Maggie keeping house with Michael’s unwed mother Christina money…

  • The Missing Hancocks @ Samuel Beckett Happy Days Festival

    August 19, 2015 - By 

    It seems odd to have Hancock’s Half Hour at the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival, a thirteen-day smorgasbord of all things Samuel Beckett-related. Even a cricket match – a sport Beckett adored – between The Theatrical Cavaliers Cricket Club and the long-wandering Gaities Cricket Club seemed a more logical inclusion in the festival program. Still, comedy has always been a significant feature of the Happy Days festival, with today’s finest stand-up comedians bringing levity to the program. This comedy element reminds us that much of Beckett’s writing is laced with wicked humour, a fact that is often overlooked. So,…

  • Phaedra @ Samuel Beckett Happy Days Festival

    August 14, 2015 - By 

    The Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival’s tentacles are spreading ever further throughout Fermanagh. It’s a reach matched by its artistic ambitions, with ever more imaginative site-specific venues and events to match. The Necarne Equestrian Centre in Irvinestown’s abandoned Necarne Castle is a dramatic enough setting – an almost gladiatorial arena – but nothing quite prepares you for the sight that greets you as you enter the dark chasm of its interior. The twenty one musicians of the Ulster Orchestra in wide circle formation is impressive in itself but right in the centre is the towering figure, some ten metres…