Best of Irish Theatre 2010 #1: Pan Pan, ‘The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane’

Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin

Oct 1-10

Again, if you look through my archive you will find a post on The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane (I’ll be nice and put the link at the bottom of this post).

Pan Pan made not only a really fun production for die-hard theatre buffs with this one, but utilized an ingenious stagecraft as well as a brilliant court of actors who brought endless humour and emotionally moving performances.

From establishing the performers in their personal and professional capacities as they audition for the role of ‘Hamlet’, Gavin Quinn and Pan Pan take us to an Elsinore of mirrored halls and rubbish cans where the impetus to ‘perform’ doesn’t shroud the indefinite natures of the individuals. Instead we are witness to the actors’ abilities to rise to the occasion and make Shakespeare’s masterpiece their own.

What a wonderful cast. Particularly enjoyable was seeing Connor Madden overcome his actor insecurities with a grand feat of athleticism and raw emotion, paying homage to the divine role with charm and skill. Also a highlight was Judith Roddy’s performance as Ophelia, drenched in rubbish and sorrow. Absolutely mesmerizing and gorgeous.

Brilliant show.

As for the best individual performances of the year …

-         Madden and Roddy for Playing the Dane. These guys can captivate an audience single-handedly.

-         Penelope nobles Tadhg Murphy and Niall Buggy. Absolutely incredible work.

 

-         Christ Deliver Us! tragic youths Aoife Duffen and Laurence Kinlan. These kids just break your heart.

-         Little John Nee for Barabbas’s Johnny Patterson the Singing Irish Clown. Much more than just a comic troubadour.

-         Hillary O’Shaughnessy for taking us through her broken city while courageously facing off street punks with the assistance of a guitar-wielding busker in Playgroup’s Berlin Love Tour. She also gave us gummy bears.

Best writing …

-         Kilroy for Christ Deliver Us! and Walsh for Penelope. Both brilliant pieces.

Best direction …

-         Gavin Quinn deserves the trophy for The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane. Garry Hynes brought some epic production values into The Silver Tassie though.

Well that’s 2010 wrapped up (with only a few hours to spare).

See you in the new year folks.

The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane review:

http://musingsinintermissions.blogspot.com/2010/10/pan-pan-rehearsal-playing-dane-bins.html#more

Best of International Theatre 2010 #1: Ontroerend Goed, ‘The Smile Off Your Face’

Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin

Sept 30 – Oct 3

One could accuse me of laziness. Not only is The Smile Off Your Face not a show that debuted in 2010 (which is the point of this list) and in fact came onto the scene a few years ago, but it is also a show I have already written about (the link to that post is on the bottom of this one). I gave The Smile Off Your Face #1 not only because it was hands down the greatest theatre experience for me this past year, but one of the most magical experiences of my whole life.

Smile is basically a mirror, ironic as it is seeing as you’re blindfolded throughout. Much like the 101 scenarios, this show has the ability to get under the surface of your very being. Whereas the Oneohone example I wrote about prompts you to reflect on your courage, or lack thereof, Ontroerend Goed softly treads the peripheries of your intimate, personal life.    

The magic of this show lies in the trust between your disabled self and the mysterious performers who surround you, as you together draw back the curtain of the syncretism of theatrical illusionary and reality. This material is the fabric of theatre, of art, and never quite has one sailed (or pushed in a wheelchair) so close to this sight of the real and unreal being so beautifully harmonized.

Beautiful.

The Smile Off Your Face review:

http://musingsinintermissions.blogspot.com/2010/10/ontroerend-goed-smile-off-your-face.html#more

Other Ontroerend Goed …

Internal:

http://musingsinintermissions.blogspot.com/2010/10/ontroerend-goed-internal-blind-date.html#more

A Game of You:

http://musingsinintermissions.blogspot.com/2010/10/ontroerend-goed-game-of-you-about-you.html#more

Teenage Riot:

http://musingsinintermissions.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-of-international-theatre-2010-5.html#more

Best of International Theatre 2010 #4: News From Nowhere, ‘The Author’

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Oct 12-17

“We’ve got ourselves into a terrible pickle about staying in character and suspending disbelief and those literal manifestations of otherness that have become so central to a way of looking at theatre. I think we as an audience deserve more than that, or can deal with more than that, can cope with more than that” – Tim Crouch

I wrote a piece about The Author after its run in the Dublin Theatre Festival (the link to which is at the bottom of this post), where I paid particular attention to the tension, or negotiation rather, between the real and the illusionary.

Crouch’s play is a bold cocktail of theatrical harmonics and particulates, the consistencies of which are not necessarily sensitive or recognisable. Its aftertaste disorientates and betrays preconceptions. What we have in The Author is an arranging of theatrical elements towards Brecht’s ‘dialectical theatre’, resulting in an expulsion of, what Brecht calls, “an engendering of illusion”. Two seating banks are placed opposite each other, and there is an absence of any stage. The audience never lose sight of each other, the actors, or the performance itself. We negotiate through every word and every magnetizing pair of eyes. We learn to establish where we stand with each other. We become our own ‘authors’ and create our own landscapes of co-existence and social realities, only for Couch and company to topple our structures, burn our allegiances, and twist all that we hold reliable. 

Brilliant theatre.

Original review: 

http://musingsinintermissions.blogspot.com/2010/10/news-from-nowhere-author-story-time.html#more

Ulster Bank 2010: Highlights?

Well, that’s me finished with the festival this year. While I was happy with what I got to saw, there was SO much I didn’t get to (Enron, John Gabriel Borkman, B is for Baby, Phaedra, L’Effet De Serge, 565+, etc). Anyway, feel free to post below your own thoughts on this year’s festivals. What was your highlight? 

Ontroerend Goed, ‘A Game of You’: About You

Smock Alley Theatre

Oct 13-17 

 

My thoughts on A Game of You, and the Personal Trilogy as a whole, coming up just as soon as I burn you a CD …

News From Nowhere, ‘The Author’: Story Time

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Oct 12-17

 

My review of The Author coming up just as soon as I accidentally sit beside Tim Crouch (dammit!) …

Ontroerend Goed, ‘Internal’: Blind Date

My review of Internal, part two of Ontroerend Goed’s Personal Trilogy, just as soon as I have a shot of Cointreau …

Gate Theatre, ‘Boston Marriage’: Speaking Mamet

Seeing that I’m currently working on a production of David Mamet’s Oleanna for Galway Theatre Festival (PLUG), I went to see Boston Marriage in The Gate. A brief review just as soon as I achieve enlightenment …

Ontroerend Goed, 'The Smile Off Your Face': Blind Man's Bluff

One of the international highlights at this year’s Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival is Ontroerend Goed’s Personal Trilogy in Smock Alley. My review of part one: The Smile Off Your Face coming up just as soon as I eat some marzipan …

Pan Pan, 'The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane': Bins & Arrows

 The Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival has arrived, and now one must choose from what’s on offer. On one hand you may be lured by the colourful spread laid out by international players who don’t visit often, with the exotic appeal of culturally-different, experimental, and physical material. Meanwhile, the enthusiasts of Irish theatre will commit themselves to seeing the who’s who of Irish companies who are also operating on full throttle. 

While I may not be able to afford James Macdonald’s John Gabriel Borkman in the Abbey (which has enough impressive names attached to warrant a national holiday), I did get to see Pan Pan’s The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane. My review of this excellent vivisection of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark right after I read out all my lines consecutively …