ABSOLUT Fringe and Project Arts Centre give us Turn Around

THEATREclub’s sonorous and rompous The Family finished its run this weekend at Project Arts Centre, thus leaving a void in our lives as we await that rare contemporary theatre piece unbound by convention until our Fringe overdose in September.

Thankfully, both the Fringe and Project will be making the wait easier as they announced last week their Turn Around season. In April we will be reunited with five Fringe shows from the past. The release states fringes, so it’s possible we’ll see productions not just from last year but the 2010 and 2009 festivals as well. The Final selected five haven’t been revealed yet but it’s fun to speculate.

So I pose the question: if you could bring back five Fringe productions – whether to relive something you loved or rewrite the past and see what you had previously missed – what would they be?

Here are mine:

THEATREclub and Project Arts Centre, ‘The Family’: We Begin and End With a Family

Project Arts Centre Upstairs, Dublin

Jan 17-28

My review of The Family (with spoilers) coming up just as soon as I see Mrs. Green on Sunday for book club …

Thoughts on Irish Times Theatre Awards Nominations 2011

The nominations are in for the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2011 (to be held Feb 26), and the details are here. I think this year’s shortlist is a good reflection of the work produced. Here are some general thoughts:
 

When you’re right, you’re right

I agree with the judges’ comments about how 2011 was great for design, direction, but not writing. Pat Kinevane and Mark O’Halloran earned their places here. Haven’t seen the others.

… and I was right!

Misterman a heavy contender in the tech categories is not surprising. What I did predict successfully was that Pan Pan’s Aedín Cosgrove would be giving them some competition.
 

We all need to go north

The Lyric is obviously a force to be reckoned with, with 5 nominations for Conall Morrison’s The Crucible.
 

The Male of the Species: Commedia Action Man

I can’t comment on Patrick O’Kane but the rest sounds right. Really happy to see Philip Judge get the nod, and while I sorely missed Man of Valour from what I hear Reid was phenomenal.  In the Supporting category I’ve only seen John Olohan but Phelim Drew as violent Saranzo in The Making of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore comes to mind.
 

The Female of the Species: Amy Conroy has arrived

I didn’t see Conroy in the role she’s been nominated for but the disarming I ♥ Alice ♥ I (bound for the Peacock Jan 30) along with consensual praise in press indicate that she’s a hot ticket at the moment. It’s an obvious move to nominate a Tony winner, and while Marie Mullen had her moment (singular), I’d remove her from the list on the basis that Testament just wasn’t good. Insert one of Selina Cartmell’s leads (Camille O’Sullivan and Kate Stanley Brennan), or Pineapple’s Caoilfhionn Dunne instead. As for Supporting Actress, great recognition for Karen Ardiff but Caitriona Ní Mhurchú (who I am a big fan of), along with every other performer in 16 Possible Glimpses, was squandered due to no fault of their own. What about The Making of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’s Cathy Belton, Derbhle Crotty for Corcadorcha’s The Winter’s Tale, or Bairbre Ní Chaoimh for her intimate performance in Laundry instead.  

What’s Missing?

Would Neil Watkins and The Year of Magical Wanking have been considered for last year’s nominations or this years’? Either way, why the hell isn’t he here? As for The Blue Boy and Follow, I imagine their best chance of getting in here would probably have been through the tech categories but those are flooded with Misterman nominations.  Drat.
 

What’s going to win?

You tell me.

Úna McKevitt, ‘565+’: The Woman Who Walked Into Theatre

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Jan 12-14

My review of 565+ coming up just as soon as I give Sam Shepherd a thumbs up …

Irish Theatre in 2011: When the Heroes are Gone

It’s that time when bloggers write their end-of-year contemplations, trying to count down the ‘Best of’ moments of whatever had them gushing into their keyboards for the past twelve months. You might recall that I did a ‘Best of’ list last year. It then became increasingly obvious to me that comparing performances and declaring a winner is a problematic and possibly fruitless exercise. For example, how do you measure something like Laundry against Misterman and decide which is the “best”? Also, some of my favourite shows this year such as Mimic and The Year of Magical Wanking had technically received their debuts before 2011, so would they be “qualified” for such a list?

Instead, I decided to write an impression of the year that was, of what we can say happened and the significance of such. And where is a more appropriate place to begin than Enda?

Siren Productions, ‘The Making of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’: Director’s Commentary

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Dec 1-17

My review of Selina Cartmell’s highly anticipated The Making of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore coming up just as soon as I marry you despite your teeth …

Live Collision | Bite Size, ‘Before Talkies’ & ‘Orchid’

Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Dec 1-3

A few thoughts on Live Collision | Bite Size coming up just as soon as I have my photograph taken …

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 …