My favourite theatre moments of 2019: The Children, Pretty Feelings, Beckett's Room, Tall Tail, and Endgame.
This year, the myth of new plays being box office poison was finally put to rest. Three in-house debuts appeared on the Abbey stage. Druid made a departure with its year of new writing. What stood out was the Gate, with its sepulchral version of A Christmas Carol, its side-by-side showing of The Children and Beginning, and the triptych of plays it co-produced during Dublin Theatre Festival: Beckett’s Room, Faultline and The Beacon. The Gate has 24 mentions on this year’s list.
Following the Gate, Druid has six citations. But so does Emily Aoibheann, creator of the stunning avant-garde masterpiece Sorry Gold.
BEST DIRECTOR
We had meticulous directors like Oonagh Murphy, Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd continuing to do great work. Gavin Quinn’s production of Endgame was his best work in a few years. But there was also revelatory direction by new names. Kristina Yee and Liadain Kaminska gave the surreal comedy Pretty Feelings a flawless production. Al Dalton directed his debut Tall Tail with tremendous heart.
Al Dalton - Tall Tale, an ALSA production
Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd - Beckett’s Room, a Dead Centre and Gate Theatre coproduction
Oonagh Murphy - The Children, a Gate Theatre production
Gavin Quinn - Endgame, a Pan Pan production
Kristina Yee and Liadain Kaminska - Pretty Feelings, an Epstein, Lumsden, Tynan & Van Vliet production
BEST SET DESIGN
Tall Tail. Photo: Enrique Carnicero
The period play, with its motionless wallpapered walls, looked dead until Drama at Inish came along. There was more movement of ideas in the vibrantly symbolic world of Sorry Gold, and the trompe l’oeil sea view in The Beacon. Davy Dummigan provided a feast of visuals in Tall Tail. Andrew Clancy rigged the apartment in Beckett’s Room with miraculous stage effects.
Emily Aoibheann and Liing Heaney - Sorry Gold, an Emily Aoibheann production
Owen Boss and Maree Kearns - Faultline, an ANU and Gate Theatre coproduction
Andrew Clancy - Beckett’s Room, a Dead Centre and Gate Theatre coproduction
Davy Dummigan - Tall Tail, an ALSA production
Francis O’Connor - The Beacon, a Druid and Gate Theatre coproduction
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN
Sorry Gold. Photo: Eoin Kirwan
We might remember the flashier lighting more than subtle illuminations. Sebastian Pizarro Olivera transformed a sphere sculpture into a psychedelic pearl in Mother of Pearl. Gav Xmas and Ciaran O’Melia artfully sank everyday scenes into otherworldly realms. But there was nice restraint by Sinéad McKenna, who beautifully brought The Children from high noon to blue dusk.
Ciaran Bagnall - A Christmas Carol, a Gate Theatre production
Sinéad McKenna - The Children, a Gate Theatre production
Ciaran O’Melia - Faultline, an ANU and Gate Theatre coproduction
Sebastian Pizarro Olivera - Mother of Pearl, an Emily Aoibheann production
Gav Xmas - Sorry Gold, an Emily Aoibheann production
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Beginning. Photo: Ros Kavanagh
Fetching costumes caught the eye, such as Doreen McKenna’s elegant garbs for party guests in Epiphany. Katie Davenport archly dressed the crusading priesthood in The Magic Flute as a flamboyant Victorian gentlemen’s club. Sarah Bacon loosened the dressy couple in Beginning and released them into somewhere more intimate, and her exquisitely subtle design for Hecuba blended Greek wartime with the present.
Sarah Bacon - Beginning, a Gate Theatre production; Hecuba, a Rough Magic production
Katie Davenport - The Magic Flute, an Irish National Opera production; A Christmas Carol, a Gate Theatre production
Doreen McKenna - Epiphany, a Druid production
Jack Scullion - Faultline, an ANU and Gate Theatre coproduction
Jenny Whyte - Tall Tail, an ALSA production
BEST SOUNDSCAPE
Faultline. Photo: Pat Redmond
There was a lot of theatre music to swoon over this year. Sinéad Diskin and Carl Kennedy's sound for Faultline bopped along to house inflections, Conor Clancy and Rebecca Ruane poured soul and depth into Tall Tail, and Carl Kennedy brought sad beauty to Hecuba. The extraordinary sound team behind Sorry Gold took us on a surreal journey down into a Stygian underworld.
Emily Aoibheann, Gintas K, Michelle O'Rourke, Peter Power and Robert Mirolo - Sorry Gold, an Emily Aoibheann production
Conor Clancy and Rebecca Ruane - Tall Tail, an ALSA production
Denis Clohessy and Cathal Synott - A Christmas Carol, a Gate Theatre production
Sinéad Diskin and Carl Kennedy - Faultline, an ANU and Gate Theatre coproduction
Carl Kennedy - Hecuba, a Rough Magic production
BEST VIDEO DESIGN
Beckett's Room
José Miguel Jiménez’s cinematic work on Beckett’s Room was really an event, with its playful surtitles and haunting images of Paris being decimated by the Nazi Occupation. John Galvin’s abstract visuals in Hecuba were similarly poignant, resembling a satellite view of a warzone. Gareth Gowran’s animations for The Examination paved a disarming path into the Irish Prison Service.
John Galvin - Hecuba, a Rough Magic production
Gareth Gowran - The Examination, a Brokentalkers production
José Miguel Jiménez - Beckett’s Room, a Dead Centre and Gate Theatre coproduction
BEST MOVEMENT
Bold Moves: Minus 16
Movement directors helped deliver the comedy this year. Eddie Kay brought sharp clarity to the slapstick in Drama at Inish. The visual gags in Epiphany were polished by David Bolger. There was also stirring choreography. Ian Robinson and Matan David recreated Ohad Naharin’s exhilarating dance Minus 16, and Sorry Gold was a profound aerial dance epic.
Emily Aoibheann, in collaboration with the cast - Sorry Gold, an Emily Aoibheann production
David Bolger - Epiphany, a Druid production; A Christmas Carol, a Gate Theatre production
Eddie Kay - Drama at Inish, an Abbey Theatre production
Ian Robinson and Matan David - Bold Moves: Minus 16, a Ballet Ireland production
BEST NEW PLAY
Peat. Photo: Ros Kavanagh
Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil and Samuel Beckett’s touching tale of survival was told in Beckett’s Room. Two plays for young audiences - Tall Tail, a Pixar-bright adventure about a dog caught in the homelessness crisis, and Peat, a superb tragicomedy about two boys discovering the world they've inherited - were affecting and consoling depictions of resilience in times of struggle.
Al Dalton - Tall Tail, an ALSA production
Nancy Harris - The Beacon, a Druid and Gate Theatre coproduction
Kate Heffernan - Peat, an Ark production
Gary Keegan and Feidlim Cannon - The Examination, a Brokentalkers production
Bush Moukarzel, Ben Kidd and Mark O’Halloran - Beckett’s Room, a Dead Centre and Gate Theatre coproduction
BEST PERFORMANCE
The Children. Photo: Ros Kavanagh
The sublime cast of The Children will undoubtedly lead the field. Jane Brennan gave her best performance in over a decade in The Beacon. Brian Doherty made a war-raging king into something surprisingly complex in Hecuba. There were also a welcome number of knockout performances from fresher faces. Isadora Epstein channelled Liza Minnelli in the ebullient comedy Pretty Feelings, and Matthew Malone was heartfelt as a gay rights activist in Faultline.
Andrew Bennett - Endgame, a Pan Pan production
Jane Brennan - The Beacon, a Druid and Gate Theatre coproduction
Brian Doherty - Hecuba, a Rough Magic production
Isadora Epstein - Pretty Feelings, an Epstein, Lumsden, Tynan & Van Vliet production
Mark Huberman - A Streetcar Named Desire, a Lyric Theatre production
Matthew Malone - Faultline, an ANU and Gate Theatre coproduction
Seán McGinley - The Children, a Gate Theatre production
Marie Mullen - The Children, a Gate Theatre production
Ger Ryan - The Children, a Gate Theatre production
Meghan Tyler - A Streetcar Named Desire, a Lyric Theatre production
BEST ENSEMBLE
Epiphany. Photo: Robbie Jack
The category for productions where the task of singling out a lone performance is impossible. There was great teamwork onstage in Epiphany, and backstage in Beckett’s Room, with its meticulous team of puppeteers crafting stunning stage effects. Similarly adept were the duo of Eileen Walsh and Marty Rea in Beginning. The dancers in Bold Moves and Sorry Gold moved in affecting synchronicity.
Beckett’s Room, a Dead Centre and Gate Theatre production
Beginning, a Gate Theatre production
Bold Moves, a Ballet Ireland production
Epiphany, a Druid production
Sorry Gold, an Emily Aoibheann production
NOTES
BEST BREAKTHROUGH
A Streetcar Named Desire
Meghan Tyler was devastating as a wife under the thrall of her toxic husband in A Streetcar Named Desire. Marc Atkinson gave Beginning an absorbing production. Not a strong year for Irish National Opera, but not for lack of trying by its leading performers. Anna Devin had a knowing wink in The Magic Flute, and Naomi Louisa O’Connell worked harder than most in Least Like the Other.
Marc Atkinson - Beginning, a Gate Theatre production
Anna Devin - The Magic Flute, an Irish National Opera production
Matthew Malone - Faultline, an ANU and Gate Theatre coproduction
Naomi Louisa O’Connell - Least Like the Other, an Irish National Opera production
Meghan Tyler - A Streetcar Named Desire, a Lyric Theatre production
BEST COMEBACK
Endgame
How nice to welcome back Ger Ryan, who was excellent as a begrudging yet dedicated scientist in The Children. Ursula Rani Sarma returned with a taut musical book for Evening Train. Otherwise, the required absence for comeback is a little shorter this year. Des Keogh and Anthony Morris haven’t been gone that long, but boy were they good in Endgame.
Des Keogh - Endgame, a Pan Pan production
Anthony Morris - Endgame, a Pan Pan production
Ger Ryan - The Children, a Gate Theatre production
Ursula Rani Sarma - Evening Train, an Everyman and Rosa coproduction
Norma Sheahan - The Cripple of Inishmaan, a Gaiety production
WORST PRODUCTION
The Country Girls went strange and otherworldly, and lost the heat that made the novel provocative. Madama Butterfly and Last Orders at the Dockside felt pretty dated. Pale Sister didn’t have much emotional impact in drawing out Ismene’s story from Antigone. MÁM was nice to look at but lacked any coherent point
Last Orders at the Dockside, an Abbey Theatre production
MÁM, a Teać Damsa production
Madama Butterfly, an Irish National Opera production
The Country Girls, an Abbey Theatre production
Pale Sister, a Gate Theatre and Audible coproduction
PRODUCTIONS I MISSED WHILE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACES
A Different Wolf. Photo: Luca Truffarelli
Also known as the “Too lazy to leave Dublin” category. Junk Ensemble and Dumbworld joined forces on the dance-opera A Different Wolf in Cork. Ronan Phelan directed Much Ado About Nothing in Kilkenny. Abomination: A DUP Opera, inspired by homophobic remarks by Northern Irish politicians, was in Belfast. Yet, Redemption Falls and Sauce were both on my doorstep. It’s impossible to see everything.
A Different Wolf, a Junk Ensemble and Dumbworld coproduction
Redemption Falls, a Moonfish Theatre, Galway International Arts Festival and Abbey Theatre coproduction
Abomination: A DUP Opera, a Belfast Ensemble and Outburst Queer Arts Festival coproduction
Sauce, a Camille Lucy Ross & Ciara Elizabeth Smyth production
Much Ado About Nothing, a Rough Magic and Kilkenny Arts Festival coproduction
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