Author: The Reviews Hub - Ireland

Writer: Thornton Wilder Director: Raymond Keane and Sarah Jane Scaife ‘Make the most of every moment. Life’s short span will soon be over….’ At the beginning of this pitch perfect play we catch the faint strain of a song by American composer Sam Jones, arranged here by Aoife Kavanagh.  One line sets the tone: ‘Make the most of every moment….’ the singer croons as Lucia calls her new husband and mother in law to the Christmas table. Directors Raymond Keane and Sarah Jane Scaife present  an Abbey Theatre Production of The Long Christmas Dinner as The Peacock stage’s seasonal offering.…

Creator and Director: Phillip Connaughton Phillip Connaughton has put together a remarkable performance that transcends genre. On entering the space the show has already started, with a group of eight dancers, kitted out in strange almost synchronised swimmer outfits, shuffling on the spot to a tinkling piano background. It seems to go on to the point of discomfort, which is a recurring theme in the piece. The true beginning of the show is a bang. Helen Jordan’s showgirl dances onto the stage with eight members of the company to perform a song, with encouraged audience participation. At the same time…

Written by: Geoff O’Keefe Directed by: Geoff O’Keefe The Mill theatre’s Christmas panto this year is well worth a visit. Packed full of laughs, music, song, and dance, this is fun for all the family. With a duration of just one hour, it is ideally suited to the younger child with a shorter attention span. For this reviewer and her young guest, this was a fast paced and very enjoyable hour that flew by. The cozy auditorium has great acoustics and was packed full of youngsters of all ages when we visited. We loved the tantalising set design vibrant with…

Writer: Evanne Kilgallon Director: Conor Hanratty The multi-talented Evanne Kilgallon makes her writing debut as well as starring as Dorchas in the “musical play” An Lár. Along with Saorla Wright playing Solas, the two are phenomenal at bringing these otherworldly characters to life. Directed by Conor Hanratty and featuring music from David Keenan, An Lár is a most unique and original production. Set in the afterlife, Dorchas, a veteran deceased, meets Solas, a confused newbie in denial. The pair embark on a quest for a more hopeful outcome for themselves. This journey tests their courage and resilience as they encounter…

Writer: Brian Friel Director: David Horan  Calling all Chekhov enthusiasts, Friel fanatics and all! Brian Friel expertly borrows characters from Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters. No previous knowledge of either plays are necessary as this one-act focuses not on their past but is earnestly concerned with their future. The drama unfolds when Andrey from Three Sisters meets Sonya from Uncle Vanya in a humble café. How aptly fitting that Bewley’s Café Theatre is the perfect setting for this meeting as the audience are sat around tables as if transported to that same café in Moscow. The chemistry between Karen…

Writer: Oonagh Wall Director: Eftychia Spyridaki Some 350 years after The Theatre Royal at Smock Alley was first built, Ireland’s oldest playhouse, lovingly restored, presents a play by one of our youngest companies. Anseo/Anois, meaning here and now, established in 2019 was founded by Lir Academy graduate actors, Éanna Grogan and Amy Kidd along with Trinity College English and Classics graduate, Oonagh Wall. In an evocation of Dublin’s Pale, the strip of land controlled by the English during the middle ages, Wall creates an Ireland of the future where rising seas have caused the Capital and its environs, the ‘GDR’…

Writer: M.R. James  Adapted: Michael James Ford and Stewart Roche Director: Liam Hannigan An innocent 12 year old orphan boy is sent to live in a remote country pile with his eccentric relative only to discover that forces of darkness are lurking around every corner. What on the surface seems like a harmless candle lit ghost story of yesteryear slowly uncovers a darker layer of sinister. M.R. James was one of the earliest writers of the Jamesian ghost story. His tales rose to popularity in the early 1920’s and would later become a staple of ghoulish storytelling on British radio…

Writer: Panti Bliss Director: Phillip McMahon The Queen of Ireland sets the stage a glitter with shimmer and curves in this one woman half comedy show half rallying cry. Panti Bliss starts the show as large as life as ever, with a couple of tongue in cheek anecdotes from her unquestionably interesting journey through the world, but from early on she alludes to the sensitive and endearing heart of the show – what is she for now? Over the course of a quick hour, the audience is moved from laughing at sex toys, to falling in love with Bliss’s parents,…