Author: The Reviews Hub - Ireland

Writer: Eva O’Connor Director: Hildegarde Ryan Discovering St Kevin’s park just off Camden Street is one of the joys of attending Eva O’Connor’s contribution to the Dublin Fringe Festival This adaptation of O’Connor’s literary essay provides a pleasant philosophical meander in the deconsecrated graveyard of St Kevin’s Park. It’s a short audio work which reflects on the impact of the recent covid restrictions on the playwright. Being deprived of an audience highlighted for the author how her sense of self was closely linked to her work. The return of her sister from NYC to continue her ‘noble’ job as a…

Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Conor Wray For the first time since 2019, Off The Ground Theatre Company are back in the gardens of Killruddery. They have been much missed. They make their return with unconventional Shakespeare comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost. As we gathered in the outdoor Sylvan theatre there was a convivial atmosphere, fed by the treats and drinks available from the tea rooms. Love’s Labour’s Lost is not Shakespeare’s best-known play, but it’s initial set up is ripe for a theatre company to capitalise on every moment of humour. The King of Navarre and three of his friends make…

‘The Humours of Bandon’- a multi-award winning one act play returns to Bewley’s Café at lunchtime. In this one woman play we meet sixteen year old Annie who constantly tries to fulfil her mothers expectations that her daughter will win the Irish National dancing championships. Annie struggles to individuate and to discover her own uniqueness. Her journey is finally realised when she says: ‘ I realise that  I am only here for her.’ The writer and actress Margaret McAuliffe portrays Annie – narrating her encounters with the people in her life. She clearly defines a myriad of characters – young…

Writer: David Harrower Director: Andrew Flynn Sexual abuse of a minor and its life-changing effects on both perpetrator and survivor are not easy subjects to write about.  Yet, David Harrower’s two-hander, Blackbird is both powerfully raw and moving. This is challenging spectatorship with its dark subject matter and lacerating language and sexual imagery, especially when the sexual references relate to a child. Ray and Una have a shared history, one that hides a secret. Una was twelve when she first met Ray who was then forty. They had a sexual relationship which ended when Ray was reported to the police…

Writer: Emily Gillmor Murphy Director: Aonghus Òg McAnally Bliss is an audio experience that guides you through the life of a woman, Mary, who grew up on Bray seafront. The listeners journey begins at Bray Promenade, but one can’t help but feel the presence of urgency in the calm setting. Although the experience has the same feeling of a podcast, the audience member gets the sensation that they are not alone as they are guided through the town, and that something exciting is underway. There is no date given, which allows the listener to fill in the gaps and become…

Creator: Lark Voice: Emer Heatley There is an intimacy, and indeed a sense of privilege, in receiving a given theatre performance through the medium of your own personal phone. Having a certain amount of control over when you open the message and where you are situated creates a curious relationship with the piece, a relationship akin to the designated ‘listener’ role assigned by Lark and the protagonist, but also understandably a somewhat disengaged or fragmented response at times. However, particularly in the longer messages, the sensory elements of sound and imagery pull the listener into the grieving mind of the…

Writer: Harry Butler Director: Anthony Biggs Is this fringe festival a soft porn play? Well just slightly. Think Normal People meets Lena Dunham’s Girls. This cracking, spicy play might have you reaching for your inhaler. The story unfolds in the bedroom where two strangers try and figure each other out. A bit like synchronised ice skaters they skate around each other but never actually look at each other, which is weird and mesmerising at the same time. Harry Butler is the writer and the lead in the play. The character he plays is Robert, a soft, sweet guy who is…