IrelandReview

A Little Cloud – Bewley’s Café Theatre, Dublin

Reviewer: Elizabeth O'Gorman

Writer: Patricia Browne

Director: Vincent Patrick

This skilful adaptation by Patricia Browne of Joyce’s A Little Cloud, transfers the theme of personal paralysis from a central story in Dubliners to a one act play for the stage.

Browne successfully reinterprets Joyce’s key concerns of family, fatherhood and failing in the ambition to be a writer, for a modern audience. The inclusion of an additional character, ably played by Dympna Heffernan, allows the backstory of the two main characters, Chandler and Gallagher, to emerge. Chandler was the student with literary inclinations and Gallagher was involved in shady dealings. The two men now meet for a drink to renew their friendship and reveal the different tracks their lives have taken.

Stephen Kelly portrays a diffident, shabby Chandler who is admiring, resentful and dismissive of Gallagher’s success as a writer. “Chicken wings and hotsauce” he finally drunkenly explodes, scorning Gallagher’s envy of a colleague’s YouTube fame. He, Chandler has loftier ambitions to emulate Byron’s poetic achievements while also harbouring a prurient interest in Gallagher’s sexual exploits. Director Vincent Patrick plays Gallagher with great verve and dynamism that contrasts well with the faltering timidity of Chandler. The adroit choice of costume reinforces this difference.

Shaun Elebert and Dublin based Judder Theatre Company present a minimalist production which conveys the essence of Joyce’s subject matter. Does a writer have to leave their native city in order to achieve success? Does a family constrain a writer’s ambition?

Browne adds the twist of a woman’s entrapment in motherhood, depicted here by Geraldine Crowley as Chandler’s exhausted wife Annie. Overcoming the obstacles to being an artist can be both male and female concern.

This is Joyce for a contemporary audience. A worthwhile lunchtime treat. Go and be gripped.

Runs until June 17th 2022

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The Ireland team is currently under the editorship of Laura Marriott. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.

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