That 'Marry' Is the Very Theme

Production image of I ♥ Alice ♥ I by Amy Conroy (photo: Ruby Washington). As the nation approaches a referendum on same-sex marriage, what has Irish theatre told us about marriage and gay lives?

Who would have thought that Dion Boucicault, the 19th century Irish melo-dramatist who nowadays fills seats for the popular and commercial theatre, is presently one of the most politically provocative playwrights in the United States? Or at least sharing the mantle with the rising Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who has adapted Boucicault’s The Octoroon for New York’s Soho Rep.

Abbey Theatre, 'Twelfth Night': By the Roses of the Spring

A modern telling of Shakespeare's comedy might just break new ground. Photo: Ros Kavanagh.

Abbey Theatre

Apr 30-May 24

My review of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare coming up just as soon as I cross-garter in a fashion you protest ...

Abbey Theatre, ’16 Possible Glimpses’: The Long Goodbye

The Peacock Stage, Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival

Sept 30-Oct 29

I don’t have time to write in depth about Marina Carr’s 16 Possible Glimpses. I was interested in seeing Carr craft a literary response to Chekov but the unfortunate result is a clumsy exposition-forced soap opera which isn’t particularly memorable.

Patrick O’Kane, Cathy Belton, and Caitríona Ní Mhurchú fall victim to the over-stated content of Carr’s prose here, resulting in cringing and irritating performances from some of the industry’s finest. As usual, director Wayne Jordan makes the most of a crowd, inspiring elegant choreography from his blocking and scene changes. His use of a live video feed though never finds its purpose. Hugh O’Connor’s footage and Sam Jackson’s music arrangements provide beautiful backdrops to this very confused piece.  When the play takes to a mediation on writing and ‘the artist’, and Chekov and Tolstoy exchange portfolios, we wonder if the subject of ‘eloquence’ has flown right over the head of one of our once most fearless voices.

What did everybody else think?   

Musings Listings: February 2011

With many of the country’s greatest theatre acts taking off these days to tackle America with Culture Ireland’s ‘Imagine Ireland’ scheme, Dublin theatre audiences appear to have been left at the mercy of oestrogen-empowered comedies such as Calendar Girls in the Grand Canal or Adele King’s Grumpy Old Women in the Gaiety. While these large-scale, internationally-toured productions are sure to bring in the big bucks, there are a lot of local performances to be excited about also. Indeed, February 2011 can be characterised as a month of Irish theatre where the parents have gone away on business and the kids are now out to play.

Best of Irish Theatre 2010 #3: Abbey Theatre, ‘Christ Deliver Us!’

Abbey Theatre, Dublin

Feb 16 - Mar 13

“There’s always something in the world that’s stronger than us”

This is the truth that Winnie Butler has come to accept. The young girl’s frustration, and that of the rest of the young inquisitors of Christ Deliver Us!, is the real emotional tug of this piece of theatre. The truth is: they’ve all been defeated.