Author: The Reviews Hub - Ireland

Writer: Ultan Pringle Director: Ultan Pringle Although only an hour long Ultan Pringle’s Piglet is very much a tale of two halves, or perhaps better, a story with two sides. This irreverent two hander could be described as a deep dive into a breakdown brought on by heartbreak, but it turns out to be quite a bit more complex than that. The play opens with Laura Hartin as Mercy already on stage, decked out by Toni Bailey in a voluptuous tutu, oversized sunglasses, and a kerchief around her face. Jack Scott Shanley’s stage is well thought out in its simplicity,…

Writer: Molière Adapted by: Frank McGuinness Director: Caitríona McLaughlin The Abbey Theatre production of Molière’s satirical 17th-century comedy Tartuffe is currently touring Ireland and played its first night in Galway in the Blackbox Theatre to a less-than-capacity audience. The contemporary interpretation by director Caitríona McLaughlin and writer Frank McGuinness is signalled by animated modern music playing before the curtain is raised, while the various acts are bookended throughout by short dance sequences to the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode and various techno-beat rhythms. Other nods to the present are the use of mobile phones, some costuming choices and the odd…

Writer & Director: Seamus O’Rourke Seamus O’Rourke is a writer, director, and performer. His latest one-man show, The Sand Park centres on a bereaved father and husband, James Anthony Lowery. Set in the heart of rural Ireland in County Offaly, Lowery, a recently widowed famer sits on a bench before two graves, one recently dug, one older. While sipping tea from a thermos flask, he launches into his daily tête-à-tête with two members of his family. His son, who several years previously was killed instantly in a car accident, and his recently deceased beloved wife, Rose. The field where he…

Writer: Joe Orton Director: Karl Falconer Joe Orton’s Loot is a bleak farce that, almost 60 years since its premiere, retains the ability to shock, delight, and amuse its audience, judging by the reaction to its final performance in Dublin’s Smock Alley. Receiving its first uncensored Irish production, the play shows signs of its roots in the England of the mid-sixties, but the core themes – religious hypocrisy, piety, police corruption, and illicit homosexuality – are still keenly felt. While this production was at times frayed, as the manic nature of the script overtook the performers, it was a fascinating and often impressive work. Beginning…

Writer: Christy Lefteri Adaptors: Nesrin Alrefaai, Matthew Spangler Director: Miranda Cromwell Book Groups the length and breadth of Ireland will be converging on Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre this week for the adaptation of Christy Lefteri’s bestselling novel, The Beekeeper of Aleppo. Lefteri, herself the daughter of Cypriot refugees, has woven together a harrowing tale about the hazardous journey a Beekeeper and his Artist wife must take to reach the safety of England from their home in war-torn Aleppo. Theirs is more than just a physical expedition through hardship, violence, exploitation and discrimination (“They say that this Island [U.K.] will break under…

There are few plays where Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Shakira are considered as future players for the local camogie team but The Sand Park is a play where such things are pondered, amongst many other wild but valid ideas. As the lights go down on the stage two lonely graves appear against a backdrop of trees and shrubbery. Indeed, until the protagonist appears on stage it’s hard to imagine what will unfold with a scene like this. When James appears, on stage, the key themes of life and death are juxtaposed evocatively in front of us as much as they…

Writer: Martin McDonagh Director: Andrew Flynn It’s telling when you struggle to get a table for two in the vicinity of the Gaiety Theatre early on a Monday evening. “It’s because the whole of Dublin is going to see Hangmen”, the waitress at a South William Street restaurant tells us. Inspired by the life of notorious hangman and publican, Albert Pierrepoint, who was responsible for executing hundreds of infamous murderers and criminals, Martin McDonagh’s play brings whole new meaning to the term ‘dark comedy’.  It’s clear to see why Decadent Theatre Company, who are drawn to modern, cutting-edge works, align…

Writer: Gerry Farrell Director: Prin Duignan As Love Actually’s Hugh Grant says of America in his Prime Ministers speech “A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend”, neither was David Lloyd George a friend to Ireland. Given it was he who sanctioned the notorious Black and Tans and their reign of terror during the Irish War of Independence, I was intrigued as to how actor and playwright, Gerry Farrell might seek to garner sympathy for the man whose Government of Ireland Act in 1920 was responsible for the partition of our Country.  It might also be argued, the…