Tag Archives: Molly O’Cathain

Danse, Morob – Review

Project Arts Centre

17/1/17

Originally published on The Reviews Hub

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The daughter of Morob is trying to find him. Upon learning that his body is missing from its grave, she sets out with her pack of dogs to find the Long Kesh ex-political prisoner.  However, it soon transpires that this magic-realist play is about much more than just the recovery of the corpse, it is about a woman coming to an understanding of the death of her father and finding Morob, the person rather than Morob, the corpse.

The piece opens with a strong physical segment, moving quickly from the slow pre-set movement around the set and building to an intense combat between performers in which words and movement clash with breathtaking results. However, this level of interplay between text and physicality is not sustained and such choreography is used less as the text takes over.  This detracts somewhat from the energy and power of the piece, as lengthy monologues lose themselves at points and go for more where less may have been more effective. The repeated motifs in the text, a technique that one would recognise from other Emergency Room works such as riverrrun, do not carry the text forward in the way one might expect, instead slowing the pacing and giving the text a static quality at times. Even though the lead role is powerfully performed by Olwen Fouéré, whose voice could command the attention of a theatre even if she was only reading a shopping list or telephone directory, the text seems to weigh the performance down.

Despite this, there were many interesting questions raised alongside the central father/daughter story. There were questions of connection and communication brought to the fore in interactions between the characters during the seated monologues, and in the sense of self interrogation in many of Fouéré’s pieces. This also leads to contemplation of questions of identity – to what extent is the lead character defined in relationship to Morob? How much does she define herself along that plane? This is developed as the narration moves from first person to second and third. The detachment of the use of the third person towards the end conveys a strong message about Fouéré’s character’s identity as the Daughter of Morob.

The daughter of Morob appears to be a prisoner herself (though why or to whom we cannot be sure), and this is conveyed effectively through Molly O’Cathain’s costumes which are created with an excellently balanced colour-palette that compliments and is complimented by Sinéad Wallace’s striking lighting design. Wallace’s design subtly suggests the opposition between the clear-cut lines of the place versus the hazy or murky internal experience of Fouéré’s character. José Miguel Jimenez and Luca Truffarelli’s AV elements create intense experiences of the search for Morob, but the fact that they are projected behind the characters and, along with Wallace’s lighting design, disrupts the sense of space and gives the audience the impression that they are experiencing the internal world of Fouéré’s character. One gets the impression that the daughter’s search for Morob may actually have taken place in one room, in one space.  It is, as mentioned before, not just a physical search, but journey to finding an understanding of Morob and his death.

Danse, Morob is a visually stunning production that is hindered by a stilted text.

Danse, Morob runs at Project Arts Centre until January 28th 2017.

 

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BlackCatfishMusketeer – Review

Originally published on The Reviews Hub

The Lir

Tiger Dublin Fringe

20/09/16

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We interact differently to how we did just a couple of decades ago; the internet has changed how we get to know people,  it has changed how we communicate. BlackCatfishMusketeer is a show about this, about people getting to know each other online, however, it is no “tsk young folks and their smart phones” show. This production explores how two people communicate when they have nothing but their words to commend themselves to each other, how they connect, how they show off, and how they get to know each other.

Man (Ste Murray) and Woman (Catherine Russell) chat about starfish, IT, past relationships, and a great deal about the problem of induction. While the discussions can, at times, be somewhat cold, alienating the characters from the audience, they also raise intriguing questions and ideas. The addition of the character of IT (Aoife Spratt), personifying the medium through which the characters are speaking, goes some way towards mediating and mitigating the effects of the distance created between the characters and the audience. Ever sharp and electric, IT builds the setting of the online chat as well as providing entertaining and engaging commentary with dry humour and wit. They almost seem a more human character, breaking the fourth wall and delighting in the unexpected and incongruous. Even though the other two characters are on stage acting out their story, it is almost as though IT is the one recounting the story, taking props out of boxes, steering the direction of the piece and seizing the stage to have the final word.

Molly O’Cathain’s set takes this sense of carefully building a conversation with someone online and manifests it in a collection of boxes and images of filing cabinets. Playing with levels and versatile props, her design plays a similar role to IT, breaking a sense of realism and reminding the audience of the limitations and possibilities of the medium through which Man and Woman are communicating.

Though it does at times lose itself in dense blocks of detached dialogue, BlackCatfishMusketeer is an intriguing and thought-provoking production that is not afraid to ask and answer difficult questions while having a lot of fun along the way.

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Eamonn (From Menswear) – Review

Ill-Advised Theatre Company

Smock Alley

1/8/16

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Photo Credit: Ste Murray

Eamonn (from menswear) is 25, a dad, and he is here to tell you about his life. Through a combination of rhymed verse, song and straight talking, Fionn Foley tells the age old story of a man learning to overcome prejudices as he faces the challenges that come with raising a family and traversing everyday life. Recounting his experience of working in a menswear department, of bringing up his daughter and of awkward encounters with his neighbours, Eamonn gradually reveals his closed “us and them” mentality. He thinks people are sound, as long as they are like him. As he works his way through the mundane challenges of life, he sees nothing wrong with this outlook, but all is not as it seems and Eamonn is about to be taught a serious lesson in a bizarre setting.

Foley creates an entertaining and engaging production, bringing it to life with his dynamic and enthusiastic performance. However, it must be said that the rhyming form was, at times, stretched to its limit and could have been more effective had it been interchanged with more prose style writing. When it worked, it was excellent, but at other times it felt as though the words were being roughly wrestled into verse. Despite this, Foley’s script is vivacious, madcap and delightfully frank. There is a self-awareness to his writing that wraps the audience around his little finger and has them rolling in the aisles. This is further complimented by Molly O’Cathain’s set design and John Gunning’s lighting design, both of which demonstrate a strong understanding of the space in which they are working and use the shape of the Boys School to great advantage.

Overall, though the basic plot is a time-worn tale, Ill-Advised Theatre Company put a fresh stamp on it in the exuberant and sharp Eamonn (From Menswear).

Eamonn (From Menswear) runs in Smock Alley until 6th August.