Update: 6.00pm on Tuesday 07.01 – commemoration cancelled as predicted.
Readers from outside Ireland are probably unaware of the political controversy currently engulfing Ireland. It is quite the tale, so buckle up and concentrate… Continue reading ‘Come out you Black and Tans…’
For my last theatrical outing of the year, I went to the Project Arts Centre this afternoon for the matinee performance of ‘Well that’s what I heard’ by the Breadline Collective. Written and directed by Thommas Kane Byrne (who I’d seen acting in ‘Dublin will show you how’ at the Complex in April), this show originally ran in 2018 at Theatre Upstairs before its revival in the Cube space at the Project this week. Continue reading Theatrical: ‘Well that’s what I heard’
When I receive visitors from out of town, I like to take them to a museum or a gallery. Ideally I’d visit Kilmainham Gaol, but this tends to get booked months in advance due to the limited capacity and widespread popularity of the guided tour. When I checked availability for Kilmainham this weekend all tours were fully booked. I had an idea. I would check availability for a guided tour of the 14 Henrietta Street Museum. There was space on the tour so we selected the 2pm Saturday slot. Continue reading 14 Henrietta Street, Dublin
‘Faultline’ is a new site-specific, immersive co-production between ANU and the Gate Theatre. Set in a Georgian building at number 11 Parnell Square East, the audience of twelve is divided into two groups and placed among the performers in a re-imagined gay bar; in the headquarters of the Irish Gay Rights movement in the early 1980s – which was in reality located in a few rooms in a similar building on the other side of the square; and in a cottage (a men’s public lavatory which was how many gay men hooked up with each other in those criminal days.) Continue reading Theatrical: ‘Faultline’
Disclaimer: This play ‘officially opens’ tonight. The Wednesday performance I saw, was the second preview show, for which I paid for my ticket. Hence I am not a ‘critic’. This review is based on my opinion as a paying customer, so I am not bound by the critic’s etiquette of not reviewing before opening night.
‘Last orders at the Dockside’ is the latest play written by Dermot Bolger, directed by Graham McLaren, and is part of the Dublin Theatre Festival at the Abbey Theatre. Set in 1980 on the night that Johnny Logan won the Eurovision Song Contest, a community gathers in the Dockside Bar along the North Wall Quays to commemorate Luke Dempsey, a recently deceased docker. The Dublin docklands in 1980 were a far different beast to what they are today. Starting at the Custom House by the river Liffey, they stretched all the way out to the sea. For generations entire families lived in docker communities close to the quays, where the men would gather every morning for ‘reads’ where their names would be called to work, to unload the cargo from arriving ships. In 1980 automation meant that this dangerous, centuries old way of life was under threat. These were communities under siege, their way of life facing extinction. The future of the Docklands as a shiny, glass monument to capitalism – the International Financial Services Centre with its gleaming mirrored buildings housing banks, insurance companies and my block of flats – was unknown. Continue reading Theatrical: ‘Last orders at the dockside’
This week sees the start of the annual Dublin Theatre Festival. Having purchased several early bird and preview tickets, over the next month I shall be in regular attendance at the playhouse As my skills are finely honed at bargain hunting, I don’t think I will be paying more than a cinema price for any show. Tonight I went to see a revival of the classic play ‘The playboy of the western world’ by John Millington Synge at the Gaiety Theatre. Continue reading Theatrical: ‘The playboy of the western world’
In 2016 I discovered that Dublin held a fringe festival every September, which occurred just before the Dublin Theatre Festival. It showcased more offbeat, less mainstream work. I was new back in town and excited to have instant access to English language theatre. I went to several shows that year – one of which was called ‘Riot’ (read my review HERE). One of the most memorable elements of that show was the Cork comedy-dance duo The Lords of Strut. The same pair are back at the Fringe this year with their latest show called ‘Champions of dance’ on the Peacock stage of the Abbey Theatre. Continue reading Theatrical: ‘Champions of dance’ by the Lords of Strut, at the Fringe
Yesterday afternoon I finished work early and headed over to the Convention Centre close to my house. This weekend is the World Con 2019 (World Science Fiction Convention). I know the director of the opening ceremony and I had written a short piece based on a collaborative idea about Halloween. It was to be performed by Firedoor Theatre as part of the ceremony. Set on the night of Samhain (Halloween) a Druid, Banshee and Morrigan – the Irish queen of war – are in an underworld bar having a drink after a night of mayhem. The Viking Brodir – slayer of Brian Boru – enters, accompanied by a failed actor from the over-world. Shenanigans ensue.
As I was heading to the theatre later, I went to watch the dress rehearsal. It was the largest theatre ever for something I have participated in. The capacity is about 2000 people. The actors were miked up and in costume and did a couple of run-throughs which seemed to go smoothly. The gigantic live screen at the back of the stage was wildly intimidating. I wished them luck and exited the theatre, to promptly get lost in a maze of red carpeted corridor. It was as if I was in ‘The Shining’. Keeping a keen eye open for ‘RED RUM’ on the walls, I entered a lift and ended up in the cavernous kitchens in the bowels of the building. A kindly kitchen porter showed me the exit, and I emerged into the day light, with eyes blinking. Continue reading Theatrical: ‘The Roaring Banshees’
On Sunday I had a notion to do the Greystones to Bray coastal walk. The fly in the ointment was that I didn’t leave my tastefully appointed flat until 2.30pm. This ought not to have been an impediment except for the fact that I had an arrangement to meet a friend in Bewley’s on Grafton Street at 5.30pm. The return train journeys added to the length of time it would take to do the walk, put paid to my lofty ambitions. Being a fine August day however, I decided to take the train to Dun Laoghaire and walk back in the direction of town. Continue reading Notional coffee, ice-cream and burgers
On Thursday I was very high-brow. I went to see ‘Waiting for Godot’ by Samuel Beckett at Smock Alley Theatre. I was dreading it. I’ve heard of the play of course – being as it is, one of the most important theatrical works of the 20th century. However, I’d heard that it was allegorical, and ‘about nothing’. Two men waiting by a tree for a character named Godot, whose provenance is never explained. It sounded very art-wanky to my ears. The type of work that, which may be incredibly clever and worthy, but would also be completely incomprehensible to a person like myself, who likes to go to the theatre either to be entertained or to see a shapely male buttock. In my ignorance I would have classified this play as being of the same school as ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce. That book beloved by millions, but only read by thousands. Continue reading Theatrical: ‘Waiting for Godot’
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