Tag Archives: Theatre

Writer: Thommas Kane Byrne Director: Clare Maguire Reviewer: David Keane Triple threat Julian Le Blanc is up to high doh. It’s the 10thanniversary of his eponymous school of dance and drama but the upcoming celebratory show is far from perfect. There’s lots to rehearse, students with social problems, and an assistant who can’t really assist. If Ballybough Road thought it ...

Writer: Ailís Ní Riaín Composer: Ailís Ní Riaín Reviewer: Ciara L. Murphy I Used to Feel is a painfully intimate music-theatre performance about the breakdown of communication and the challenges of mental torment. The performance, set in the luxurious surrounds of The Marker Hotel in Grand Canal Dock, challenges its audience to find their own meaning in the short 25-minute piece. ...

Writer: Anna Shiels-McNamee Director: Gemma Aked-Priestly Reviewer: Ciarán Leinster My Dad’s Blind, written by Anna Shiels-McNamee, who also plays the nameless female character, is an outstanding piece of work that balances humour and sorrow, pity and anger, and cynicism and sentimentality. Shiels-McNamee and David O’Meara, the only other actor, fill the Project’s upstairs space with ease, not an easy task, ...

Writer: Kate McGrew Director: Kate McGrew Reviewer: Ciara L. Murphy Hookers Do It Standing Up is a self-proclaimed ‘stand-up hip-hop mash up’, but Lady Grew’s blend of comedy, music, performance, and activism is actually much more than that. This funny, but exposing, performance pushes the audience out of its comfort zone while also providing an entertaining evening of truly ‘fringy’ performance. ...

Writer: Karen Cogan Director: Oonagh Murphy Reviewer: David Keane Brenda has made a few dubious choices. These often involve alcohol and Olivia. Olivia is Brenda’s ex-girlfriend, though Brenda struggles to accept the ‘ex’ prefix, even if it has been years. Rifling through someone else’s recyclable rubbish was never part of the plan, yet here she is. Comforted through the toughest ...

Writer: Pom Boyd with Seán Millar Director: Pom Boyd with Seán Millar Reviewer: Ciarán Leinster Shows in the Dublin Fringe Festival often throw up the question of what constitutes over-sharing on behalf of the performer. Not from an ethical point of view, as this issue has long since been resolved, but more from the dramaturgical point of view – in ...

Writer: Lauren-Shannon Jones Director: Luke Casserly Reviewer: Ciarán Leinster  Viva Voce takes place in two main sections, and while the piece was pulled off with a high level of emotional intensity, this opposition between the two styles was jarring and meant that neither one was fulfilled in a satisfying manner. The first part was a presentation, complete with an old-fashioned ...

Writer:  Albert Camus Adaptor: Ben Okri Director:  Abbey Wright Reviewer:  Richard Maguire Hot on the heels of Neil Bartlett’s adaptation of The Plague at the Arcola, Booker Prize winner Ben Okri now adapts Albert Camus’ other great work, The Outsider (L’ Étranger). Playing at the atmospheric Print Room, existentialism has never looked so good. In surely what will be a break-out role ...