Author: The Reviews Hub - Ireland

Writer: Leo Hanna Director: Finbarr Doyle In its way, Let’s Try Swingin’ is one of the more structurally traditional shows of this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. But that should in no way act as criticism of what is a wonderful 70 minutes in the theatre, that revels in the ambiguities of contemporary sexual life, while extracting wonderful performances from each of its performers. Leo Hanna’s script prompts a deliciously entertaining play which uses the classic devices of farce theatre. Jim (Barry Simpson) and Lily (Anne O’Riordan) are due to host their first swingers’ party, but are too concerned about the…

Writer: Jessie Doyle Director: Michael Curran-Dorsano The scene is one of disarray; grubby sheets hang from the ceiling, there are chalk marks on the floor, a suitcase strewn open, and the bottom half of a manikin is rooted to the floor, upside down. Suddenly, Amanda Doherty springs from underneath a sheet, and begins telling us about the seagulls that plague her life, barricading her in her lonely flat, with just the mushrooms in the kitchen for company. It’s a beguiling premise, and the space is effectively grotty, reflecting the character’s state of mind, but unfortunately Jessie Doyle’s show never fulfils…

Creator: Jo Morrigan Black   This spoken word performance is a perfect example of what every spoken word show should be.  The words are beautiful, heart wrenchingly relatable and hilariously funny all rolled into one  perfect performance. From the moment Jo Morrigan Black appears on stage in a terrific Mothman costume, you know you are going to be entertained.   Carpet Muncher combines spoken word poetry, physical theatre and drag that celebrates queer  resistance to taxonomy. It is a show that every audience member will connect with and relate to in some way as it is a celebration of the unknown.  Carpet…

Writer: Felix O’Connor Director: Ellen Corby Just how is stand-up comedy supposed to be reviewed? Does it make you laugh? Do you get the references? Does it teach you, does it make you feel? In the case of Felix O’Connor’s Bad Girl, I can answer yes to at least three of these, and so while I have no idea what the 1991 animated film Rock-a-Doodle is, and nor have I seen The Princess Bride, I had a wonderful time, laughing along at his heartfelt, deeply personal, rumination on his existence as a queer trans man, and the youth spent coming…

Writer & Director: Mark T Cox Glass Mask Theatre is one of the best venues in the city, and in Mark T Cox’s raucous cabaret, Paddy Daddy, it has found the ideal show. We’re crammed in on Saturday night, and experience 75 of the funniest, filthiest minutes of this year’s Fringe. I would say make sure you get a ticket, but the last performance is sold out, so instead just make sure you get to see Cox perform the next time he’s in Dublin, which may be around Christmas. Cox commands the space with ludicrous ease, and is so charming…

Concept, Direction and Performance: Rocio Dominguez A woman sits with her back to the audience, performing a gentle, repetitive washing of her neck, shoulders and arms; we hear the trickling sound of the water as she rinses the cloth in a bowl and mesmerically moves it over her body. This woman is a hologram, projected onto a large screen of mesh cloth which plays a major role in Rocio Dominguez’s multimedia performance, MANY MEs. When Dominguez emerges from the darkness of the Blackbox stage, clothed in white and moving slowly and rhythmically, we recognise her from the hologram. The description…

Writer: Harry Butler  Director: Anthony Biggs Sorry You Felt That Way is an original contemporary play of a “whose say is it anyway?” I wanted a glass of prosecco and a fluffy pig while watching this performance as some hard hitting questions involving guilt, love and commitment are shot across the space.  Imagine winding down after a long day in your boyfriend Adam’s (Harry Butler) flat that you have literally just moved into, while he is out at the cinema with some friends, when suddenly his ex, Eloise (Chloe O’Reilly), comes in unannounced with a bag of his old clothes…

Writer / Director: Matthew Sharpe Though this piece is centred around the struggle of lacking clarity in your identity, it has an overarching tone of uncensored honesty that is consistently and impressively clear and assured. I’ve Always Liked The Name Marcus humorously and dramatically approaches conversations surrounding biracial identities, adolescence at its finest, familial identity in conflict with native identity, the romanticisation of America as a place of belonging and searching for the ‘right’ way to live in relation to your identity. This play is poignant in its ability to connect with audience members through the openness in uncertainty about…