Author: The Reviews Hub - Ireland

Writer: Michael J. Harnett Director: Vinnie McCabe Dublin Touring Theatre’s play Madeira, The Secrets of Sisters, reunites the artistic collaboration which made a huge success of The Cloudspotter. In place of Callum Maxwell, however, this time renowned actress Geraldine Plunkett joins the cast. Set and costume designer, Marie Tierney, invokes the elegant milieu of Bewleys Café where we’re introduced to genteel spinsters Betty and Angela having tea. The former is bristly and chides her bewildered sister as “never (having been) very good at listening” or “never (having been) very good around the house”. Betty is embittered by having had to…

Writer: Elizabeth Moynihan Director: Johan Bark The timing for Celebrity could not have been a whole lot better. In the week that Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction was overturned on appeal, a story focusing on the abuse and exploitation of women by the anointed taste-makers of the day should be crushingly resonant and relevant. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite hit the mark, for a number of reasons. While there is much that is enjoyable, and it is likely to improve over its run, overall it was impossible to not rue a missed opportunity. Early 17th century Rome is the setting, with Pope…

Writer: Colette Cullen Director: Caroline Fitzgerald Colette Cullen’s Tender Mercies is a surprisingly affecting play. The stage in the New Theatre is a cluttered space for this production, and Sorcha Furlong as Mary Fortune takes to it in a flannel shirt over tracksuit bottoms, telling stories from the salon. Her accent is familiar and the jokes bleed blue in their colloquialisms. From such beginnings it’s hard to imagine that by the end you might find yourself holding back tears, but you the chances are high that you will be. Cullen’s hour long one hander is a journey through Mary’s life;…

Writer and Director: James Sykes   The Last Incel is an utterly ingenious show about a group of four men, ‘Incels’, who discuss their hatred for  women and ultimately themselves. Their precious group gets infiltrated by a women, Margaret, who also happens to be a journalist. Margaret tries to study these men and form some sort of story to write about.   There was no set, just four black frames placed on the ground. I always find performances with no costume or set to be rather daring and my interest was immediately peaked. The men used these black frames to create the…

Writer: Magali Mougel Translator: Chris Campbell Director: Ursula McGinn Geography, the narrator says, is irrelevant. This is a story that could take place anywhere, is now, maybe taking place somewhere. But there are particularities which are communicated at the outset, such as the time: it is evening, ‘an evening when the setting sun never actually sets’ and events take place between 8.54 and 9.54 pm. The weather is hot and airless, the location is a small house with an untidy garden and washing hanging on the line. We don’t see walls but we imagine a kitchen where Suzy Storck is…

Writer:  Leanne Devlin Director: Emma Copland Bewley’s Café Theatre presents the winner of their own ‘Little Gem Award’ from last year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. Slippery When Wet is a hilarious foray into the highs and lows of dating and unrequited love in the age of Instagram and Snapchat. Leanne Devlin has gumption. When three years of drama training and talent are “never enough” to sway casting directors and secure parts, the Donegal native takes to writing, and touring with, her own plays; One Step Forward, Two Steps Back and today’s one woman show. After 23 rejections following 23 auditions, Elle,…

Writer: Nora Kelly Lester Director: Nessa Matthews In one of the most unique theatres in Dublin, Smock Alley’s stained-glass windows and unimaginably high vaulted ceilings makes you think you’re about to watch a Cirque du Soleil extravaganza. If anything it was a pleasure to sit amongst the small audience and appreciate the architecture of the building, it certainly adds to the experience when the performance is even more striking than the building itself. Written and performed by Nora Kelly Lester; a one woman wonder in Bunny Bunny. Lester plays a 30-something struggling single woman as we are taken through various…

Writer: Deirdre Kinahan Director: David Nelson The curtain rises on Ciara Cassoni as Sandra, cavorting unenthusiastically with husband Ray (Padraig McLaughlin), on the couch in the ‘good’ room of the Byrne family home. The grieving daughter has returned to Wicklow from London to sell the house following her mother’s death. She seems preoccupied and is relieved when Ray finally goes to bed, leaving her alone with her thoughts. The lights dim and we are transported back to earlier that same evening. Dairne, (Paula Brady), a droll, witty old school friend, calls to extend her sympathies to Sandra, who doesn’t immediately…