Ireland Reviews

Director: Annie Ryan Writer: Anton Chekhov (revised by Annie Ryan and Michael West) Reviewer: Liam Harrison   Anton Chekhov's The Seagull explores the tension between established and experimental drama, the old and the new, embodying it in a conflict between parent and child. The first twist in Michael West and Annie Ryan’s new version is to change Konstantin to Constance ...

Director: Ian Rickson Writer: Franz Xaver Kroetz, in a new translation by Conor McPherson Reviewer: Kevin McCluskey As the expectant parents Kurt (Laurence Kinlan) and Martha (Caoifhlionn Dunne) tot up the costs of having a baby, listing the numerous ‘must have’ but superfluous accoutrements that will have to be hauled around, there is an air of the sitcom couple about ...

Writer: José Saramago (translator Margaret Jull Costa) Adaptor: KellieHughes Director: KellieHughes Reviewer: David Keane In an unnamed land death no longer exists. People age and become ill but they do not die. Death, it seems, is conducting a little experiment. The effect of this is at first lauded as a miracle but the reality soon sets in. No hospital beds, ...

Writers: Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan Directors: Feidlim Cannon and Gary Keegan Reviewer: David Keane Inspired by Georgie and W.B. Yeats’ mystical approach to creativity, and taking its title from one of Yeats well know poems, The Circus Animals’ Desertion is a poetic response to the concept of nationhood. It begins in absurdity, which sets the pace for the next ...

Choreographer: Michael Keegan Dolan Reviewer: Emma Flynn As an audience seats and settles themselves we are presented with a sparse stage, one that is dressed as if it hasn’t been home to a performance in a while. Not your typical plush aesthetic for Swan Lake. Producer and choreographer Michael Keegan Dolan informs us that during rehearsal one of the dancers ...

Writer: Michael Collins Director: Anthony Fox Reviewer: Ciara L Murphy It's fair to say thatIreland Shed a Tear? asks its audience difficult questions regarding how the Irish state and the settled Irish community treat the Irish Traveller community. Created in response to the Carrickmines tragedy - which claimed the lives of ten members of the travelling community in October 2015 ...

Conceived:El Conde de Torrefiel Reviewer: Sarah Hoover The challenge in describing Guerrilla by young Spanish troupe El Conde de Torrefiel is that words intellectualise its visceral, affective experience, which is exactly what Guerrilla, directed by Tanya Beyeler and Pablo Gisbert, uses them to do. Surtitles (by Pablo Gisbert) projected in clean white letters against the filmic set (by Blanca Añón) ...

Creator: Orla Barry Reviewer: Clara Mallon Visual artist and shepherd Orla Barry brings her live performance Breaking Rainbows to Temple Bar Gallery and Studios. With the promise of using an entire year’s production of wool from her sheep farm in County Wexford, there is an air of intrigue attached to the performance. Running as part this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival ...