Pan Pan, ‘The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane’: Revisited

Black Box Theatre, Galway

Nov 30-Dec 1

I had forgotten how jam-packed The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane is before I went to see it for the second time last night in Galway. Despite having already written about the show (twice), I have some further comments below, especially in relation to how this production differs from the debut run last year.

TCD Department of Drama’s Debut 2011, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin
Nov 30-Dec 2

I don’t often write about student and amateur productions here, mainly because it requires readjusting my criteria. Participants in such productions may not necessarily want to measure themselves against “professional” performers. We have to consider their reasons for performing, which may possibly be more social or community-based than on the economic necessity of a trained performer who has chosen a livelihood of the stage. This is not to say that there is a differential between either student/amateur and professional in terms of creativity and who is capable of being creative. In fact, creativity can sometimes be better nurtured in non-“professional” environments, which I argued in my review of NUIG Dramsoc’s The Hero Returns.

The production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream currently running in the Samuel Beckett Theatre is undoubtedly the most impressive student production I’ve seen. A component of the Trinity Drama department’s Debut series – in which graduating directors are given an opportunity to produce on a large scale, supported by sizeable budgets, casts and production crews along with academic guidance – Rosanna Mallinson’s Midsummer feels more like a lost Fringe play.

The fading in and out of a jazz-era piano and a vocal nod to Nina Simone by a Sixties-dressed Titania implement the musical genre as an ornament of the production’s design. Furthermore, ‘jazz’ is a very apt description of the approach of this piece to its source. Mallinson has taken the classical “scale” of Shakespeare’s comedy and used it to create an original, mischievous arrangement  of her own which overlooks hardly anything. With the script condensed to an hour, she manages to cater the essentials without glossing over any opportunity for comedic flourish. The cast are well-schooled in humour and charm, and all deserve and take their individual moments to own the spotlight. A radical design trades in fairy wings for military rifles, and a serene forest for a radioactive dystopia. Coincidentally, THEATREclub designer Doireann Coady is listed as production manager, and there is somewhat of a Twenty Ten similarity in how the screwball stage is uncluttered while possibly threatening. This is not to overlook the members of the design team who have all demonstrated a competency in interweaving these different aesthetics cohesively.

This production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is entertaining and ambitiously designed. It also introduces some names to keep in mind for the future. Well worth the admission charge of 8 euro (3 concession). Let me know what you think.

Sheer Tantrum, ‘The Applicant’ & ‘Voices in The Rubble’: Keep Calm and Be Absurd

The Pearse Centre, Dublin

Nov 21-Dec 2

My review of The Applicant and Voices in The Rubble coming up just as soon as I make a poodle …

Druid, ‘Big Maggie’: Of Land, Of Lady

The Gaiety, Dublin

Nov 21-26

My review of Big Maggie by John B. Keane coming up just as soon as I find Molly Gibbons’s grave ...

Nervousystem, ‘Weaving The Cry’: An Ocean and a Rock

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Oct 27-29

My review of Weaving the Cry coming up just as soon as I recognise my stitch ...

Dragonfly Theatre in collaboration with Bluepatch Productions, ‘Chasing Butterflies’ & ‘In the Garden’: Afterlight

Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway Theatre Festival

Oct 29-30

My review of Siobhán Donnellan’s two one-act plays Chasing Butterflies and In the Garden coming up just as soon as I look like my grandmother ...

Fregoli, ‘A Life of Words’: All Together Now

Studio THT, Galway Theatre Festival

Oct 26-27

My review of A Life of Words coming up just as soon as I sit in the bar where Pablo Picasso met Salvador Dalí ...

Mephisto, ‘Almost a Fantasy’: My Moon My Man

Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway Theatre Festival

Oct 26-27

My review of Caroline Lynch’s Almost a Fantasy coming up just as soon as I think “there goes my venue” ...

TYGER, ‘The Kimberly Tin’: All The Small Things

Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway Theatre Festival

Oct 25-26

My review of The Kimberly Tin coming up just as soon as I listen to Just Seventeen ...

Corcadorca, ‘The Winter’s Tale’: Godsend

Cork Opera House

Oct 11-22

I managed to catch Corcadorca’s production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale but I don’t have time to do an in-depth review. I have to say though that this is not only the first production of a Shakespearean text by an Irish company that I enjoyed and would recommend (not including postdramatic phenom The Rehearsal, Playing the Dane) but it was also one of the most mesmerising and engaging pieces of theatre I’ve seen all year.

Director Pat Kiernan’s tribal-infused interpretation, keening with Mel Mercier’s score and steeled by Paul Keogan’s frosty lights, is both a chilling and hopeful experience. When Garrett Lombard’s jealous king Leontes clashes with Derbhle Crotty’s courtly Paulina we have a stage equivalent of when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object. Both actors give supreme performances. The second half of the play is less memorable (Shakespeare did give this one a strange structure, starting off with road-signs towards a tragedy and then taking a comedy detour)  but is held together by an amiable cast including Ronan Leahy, Mal Whyte, and the always charming Raymond Keane. I have more thoughts on The Winter’s Tale but I think I’m going to save them for my end of year write-ups in December.

What did everybody else think?