Caroline Lynch talks ‘The Honey Spike’ and five years of Mephisto

Zita Monahan, Emma O’Grady and Emmet Bryne in Mephisto’s The Honey Spike

It isn’t surprising that there’s a lot of buzz about the revival of Bryan MacMahon’s The Honey Spike at the Town Hall Theatre Galway this week (Aug 9-13). The play in itself is very popular, its story of a tinker and his pregnant wife’s journey across the country to give birth in ‘the lucky hospital’ has lived unpublished throughout the years, kept alive as a favourite with amateur drama groups across the country. But what is also exciting is the story offstage. After five years of consistent producing, touring and reinventing, taking cues from an eclectic range of voices from David Mamet to Oscar Wilde to Tom Murphy as well as confiding in their own artistic impulses and originality, local theatre-makers Mephisto have come to the main stage of Galway’s Town Hall. 

Some may consider this rather significant – that a company of such size and age may take to that stage for five nights (some of you may remember Zelig’s Appointment In Limbo in 2008 or Truman Theatre’s Sunday Morning Coming Down earlier this year also getting this space. However Limbo only ran for three nights and Sunday Morning one). It is also worth considering that, based on my last crunch of the numbers, the Town Hall’s main auditorium is the sixth biggest theatre performance space in the country, trumping both The Gate and The Lyric. This is quite the sign of faith by the venue that Mephisto can provide the goods, and there is considerable evidence that they could do just that. 

Because Mephisto has had an extraordinary year, beginning with the success of company member Tara McKevitt, whose radio play Grenades won the P.J. O’Connor award and a Gold Award at the New York Festivals Radio Drama Awards. Colleagues Emma O’Grady and Caroline Lynch then turned Grenades into a very poignant stage drama, toured around the country, selling out runs at the Cuirt literary festival in the Town Hall’s studio space and in Glasgow’s Tron at Mayfesto.

      

Last week I interviewed Caroline Lynch, who’s directing The Honey Spike, about their latest production, political correctness, the last five years on the go, and what the future may hold.

Musings Listings: August 2011

August is seeming quite novel in terms of Irish theatre, as there is a strong bill of bold and adventurous acts on the table.

First: Pan Pan are back! With the Irish Times Theatre Awards Best Production 2010 trophy under their belt and never-ending acclaim for The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane (check out tour dates for October and November), the mavericks have returned for a date with Beckett (a first date, mind you. Considering their postmodern aesthetic I was surprised that Pan Pan had not engaged Beckett before). All That Fall is a radio play about a seventy year old woman and her laborious journey to the Boghill train station to meet her blind husband as a surprise for him on his birthday. The composition has been described as part black comedy, part murder mystery, part cryptic literary riddle, and part quasi-musical score. Furthermore, audiences will experience the play in a “listening chamber” in the upstairs space in the Project Arts Centre (Aug 23-Sept 2) architected by Aedín Cosgrove – who’s previous sets have been masterpieces in themselves. Gavin Quinn is on directing duties and Danes Andrew Bennett and Judith Roddy are among the cast.

Secondly: Una McKevitt is back with a new show. Those familiar with McKevitt’s work know its remarkable authenticity and issued quarrels between life and illusion, onstage and off, as very real people present themselves onstage with very real testimonies. Work such as Victor & Gord and 565+ have rewritten theatrical code in such a manner that the distance between spectator and performer has been joyously reduced. With The Big Deal (pictured above), McKevitt’s practice seems to have taken a whole new step. Described as an “extraordinary real life story of two women who knew from a very young age that they were born into the wrong bodies”, The Big Deal is based on these two friends and their individual journeys towards full transition from male to female bodies. Like McKevitt’s previous work, the subjects have composed the script themselves, supplying material such as journals, poems, songs, and interviews. Unlike her previous work, the individuals themselves will not be delivering the content. Instead, McKevitt has cast two actors to perform in the show. It will be interesting to see if the authentic nature which made her work so moving in the past will be present in the absence of those whose lives are ‘The Big Deal’ on this particular occasion. Catch the play at the Barnstorm theatre (Aug 10-14) as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

15th Oak Productions, ‘Minute After Midday’: Staging ‘The Troubles’

The New Theatre, 10 Days in Dublin

Jul 15-16

My review of Minute After Midday coming up just as soon as I decide to stay at home and watch the Tyrone game ...

A Guide to ABSOLUT Fringe 2011, ‘Brave New World’

Last week the line-up for this year’s ABSOLUT Fringe was revealed, which will take place in Dublin September 10-25. Sailing under the banner ‘Brave New World’ – this year’s festival intends to chart “a new course through a very changed Irish society”. Below are a few thoughts on the programme and a provisional strategy of what shows I’m going to attend.

Fishamble, ‘Silent’: Valentino

Druid Lane Theatre, Galway Arts Festival

Jul 11-16

A few thoughts on Pat Kinevane’s Silent coming up just as soon as I paint my nails immaculate blue ...

Landmark Productions, ‘Misterman’: To The Dogs Or Whoever

Black Box Theatre, Galway Arts Festival

July 11-24

My review (with spoilers) of Enda Walsh and Cillian Murphy’s excellent Misterman coming up just as soon as I feel the door shut gently behind me as I step out into Innisfree ...

Paines Plough, ‘Love, Love, Love’: Happily Ever After?

Town Hall Theatre, Galway Arts Festival

Jul 12-16

My review of Love, Love, Love coming up just as soon as my generation learns how to improvise wildly ...

Musings Listings: July 2011

There is something of a retrospective vibe to July. Brian Friel is seemingly the writer-in-residence at both the Abbey and the Gate this month. Molly Sweeney – “a humorous, compelling and moving drama, which tells the story of a woman, blind since infancy, who has the chance to regain her sight” – will run at the Gate while post-colonial masterpiece Translations – featuring a cast including Janet Moran (Freefall, Pineapple), Aaron Monaghan (Christ Deliver Us!, The Silver Tassie) and Denis Conway (The Gigli Concert, Penelope) – runs in the Abbey until mid August.

Also revisiting from the past is Enda Walsh’s Misterman (pictured above) – a highlight of this year’s Galway Arts Festival and also my pick of the month. This dark tale of a man on a self-appointed mission to “do the Lord’s work” in the small community of Inishfree was originally staged by Corcadorcha in 1999 starring Walsh himself. Now reworked and expanded, with Walsh on directing duties and Disco Pig Cillian Murphy cast in the role, it’s hard not to get excited about Misterman (Town Hall Theatre, Jul 7-24). This year’s festival does present a Disco Pigs reunion of sorts, as Eileen Walsh can be seen as the lone star of Corcadorcha’s arcane site-specific Request Programme (the Western Hotel, Jul 11-23). Combined, these three individuals once arrested expectations with a surrealist theatre that had little history and little inhibition. It will be interesting to catch up with them since their days tearing up ‘Pork City’.

Barabbas, ‘City of Clowns’: Back to Basics

Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise

Jun 15

Raymond Keane’s City of Clowns has been in production for some time now, and marks Barabbas’ return to the theatre scene since their core funding was cut last year. A considerable project grant has put the clowns back on their feet, allowing them to bring City of Clowns to the Clomnel Junction and Earagail Arts Festivals this month. The show opens in Clomnel this Sunday but Keane, as artist-in-residence at Dunamaise, premiered the show there two weeks ago.

Personally, the show is a winner. Keane has a presence that can replace the audience’s laughter with sympathetic silence instantly, and the Barabbas portrayal of ‘clowns’ as individuals not invincible to human loss and longing continues to be a very interesting psychology. The triumph of City of Clowns lies in a left turn in the performance that I won’t even dare to mention here, though I will discuss it in the comments section with people if they desire. Barabbas have gone back to the raw element of ‘theatre’ as a social art with this one, and it’s a very appropriate move considering the company’s recent battles for security and resource.

Check it out and discuss below. 

Fregoli, 'The Secret Life Of Me': My Fair Ladies

Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Jun 28-Jul 2

My review of Fregoli’s The Secret Life of Me coming up just as soon as I remember every single thing Richard has ever said ...