Dragging and Derealising the World Onstage

Miss Bunny (left) and Panti Bliss (right) in promotional art for The Panti Show. A nation tunes in to watch a drag queen on television but what exactly is drag?

RTÉ's Saturday Night Show began it's live broadcast on January 11th with presenter Brendan O'Connor introducing the drag queen Panti Bliss. A red curtain rose to reveal a dressing room and the occupant wearing a geisha-like gown, a voluminous blonde wig from Dolly Parton's Heartbreaker days and eyelashes so long they could gouge an eye. 

A voice-over introduces the drag device: the lip sync - a faux pas in musical performance (see Ashlee Simpson) but the basis for the corporeal story-telling of the drag queen. "Brendan O'Connor? Goddamn it, I done it again; I thought this was Brendan O'Carroll's show. What the hell am I going to talk to Brendan O'Connor about?"

Siren Productions, 'A Tender Thing': Defying the Stars

Romeo and Juliet are given the gift of time in Ben Power's reimagining of the Shakespeare classic but will their tragic fates remain the same? 

Jan 28-Feb 15
Project Arts Centre


My review of A Tender Thing by Ben Power coming up after the jump ...

Painted Filly and Sugarglass, 'The Brothers Karamazov': Of Vice And Men

An intimate adaptation by actor/director Nicholas Johnson locates the heartbeat of Dostoevsky's epic novel. 

Samuel Beckett Theatre

Jan 23-25, 27-Feb 1

My review of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, adapted by Nicholas Johnson, coming up just as soon as I rescue a certain frozen peasant ...

Druid, 'The Colleen Bawn': Spake It, Don't Spray It

Druid's revival of the Boucicault classic reminds us what is needed to pull out all the stops for the pronounced theatrical form: the Melodrama.

Gaiety Theatre
Jan 21-25

My review of The Colleen Bawn by Dion Boucicault coming up just as soon as I'm as broad in the back as the Gap of Dunloe ....

Bewley's Cafe Theatre, 'Happiness': Studies of Grief in Days of Milk and Honey

Irish writer Mary Lavin (1912-1996), compared to Virginia Woolf and Anton Chekov over her literary life, is adapted for the stage by Deirdre Kinahan.

Bewley's Cafe Theatre

Jan 15-Feb 8

My review of Happiness by Mary Lavin, adapted by Deirdre Kinahan, coming up just as soon as I find an in-between sugar ...

ThereIsBear!, 'Terminus': Devil May Care

Smock Alley Theatre

Jan 6-9

I've written a lot here in the last week so it's left me with a lot of things to catch up on. Unfortunately, this means I can't do a full review of ThereIsBear!'s production of Terminus by Mark O'Rowe. 

ThereIsBear! is a company formed in 2012 by members of NUI Galway's Drama Society. The last play they performed in this venue was the witch drama The Last Burning by Patrick Galvin. It was a good production but it carried the student drama trademark of a cast in their early-20s playing characters who are much older.

This production of Terminus, with a more age-appropriate cast, marks a more mature venture into professional drama.

Director Emmet Byrne's seemingly spare vision of O'Rowe's wicked play about three individuals pulled into Dublin's satanic underworld proves itself intricately detailed in his actor's skilful performances. Of particular note is Jed Murray, who makes the strongest connection with the audience (and who gets to show a more mindful. charming side than the aggressive roles he plays in ANU Productions' work). 

It's amazing how, in lieu of scenic action, O'Rowe's singing, mystical, eye-gouging script can captivate the audience. It's enough to get you excited about his upcoming adaptations of Shakespeare.

But the darkly operatic tales of Terminus are finely measured and conducted here by the ThereIsBear! company. If there's a show to see in town this week, it's this one. 

What did everybody else think?

Irish Theatre to See in 2014

Some plays for your diary ...

More Irish Theatre Highlights of 2013

Wayne Jordan's kinetic production of The Threepenny Opera brought movement that is rarely seen on the Gate stage.

I already made a list of the top 10 Irish theatre productions of 2013 but here are more highlights that deserve mention ...

Irish Theatre Top 10 of 2013

Lloyd Cooney tearing it up in No. 14 Henrietta Street during ANU Productions' marking of the 1913 Lockout centenary.

As per the year end ramble of making lists of the year's best in music, cinema and such, below I give what I think are the highlights of 2013 in Irish theatre.

Before I begin I'll disclaim that while my scope is very Dublin-centred I did travel and provide extensive coverage of both the Cork Midsummer Festival and Galway Arts Festival. My misgivings include failed trips to Limerick, to the Blue Raincoat productions in Sligo, the Beckett Happy Days Festival in Enniskillen, the City of Culture events in Derry, and to any of the theatres in Belfast. These aside, however, I'll argue that this still is a comprehensive list of the year's finest in Irish theatre.

This year I made the decision to drop out of college and begin writing to arts editors looking for a job (if any of you said editors are reading, expect more pesterings in your inbox).

This commitment has meant that I have reviewed 102 performances in 2013 whilst keeping up the day job. These were spread between the reviews here, for Irish Theatre Magazine, and some work that I do for the Arts Council. The most read reviews here on the blog were my reviews of King Lear and Living the Lockout, my counterpoint to Una Mullally's Irish Times article on the most creative people in Ireland, and my opinion piece reacting to the Limerick City of Culture programme. 

Choosing 10 out of 102 wasn't easy but here they are:

THEATREclub, 'HISTORY': The Republic That Never Was

As the finale of THEATREclub's trilogy of history plays, will this look backwards move us forward? 

Below is my review of THEATREclub's HISTORY - the last play I will be reviewing this year. I will be taking a break for Christmas but check back next Monday for my top 10 theatre productions of 2013. Meanwhile, my review of HISTORY coming up just as soon as I am also in the play ...