Tag Archives: Shane O’Regan

Trainspotting -Review

Smock Alley Theatre

4/2/16

 

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Renton doesn’t choose life. Renton chooses “something else.” Tracing the interlocking stories of a group of friends, acquaintances, “associates,” whose lives have been ravaged by heroin, Trainspotting is a sharp, painfully funny and agonisingly heartbreaking piece.

From the off the cast bring an impressive energy and passion to the performance, with Shane O’Regan once again showing his skill and versatility as an actor, delivering a vivid, raw turn as Renton.  O’Regan captures the multi-faceted nature of the character; he is not just “a junkie,” he is a character that has a burning vitality and story around him. As well as portraying the intensity of Renton, O’Regan has a particular skill for quick quips, delivering sharp laughs and gags with a perfectly measured but naturalistic style. Lórcan Strain’s performance as Tommy was also impressive, capturing the changing situation impressively. The entire cast caught the essence of their characters, however, in the case of Foley and Healy there were moments at which this was masked by dubious Edinburgh accents. Inaccurate accents, laid on too thickly resulted in lines being lost.

Noteworthy in terms of Tracy Ryan’s direction is her use of the all too often neglected upper levels of the Boy’s School giving a powerfully immersive feeling to the piece. Ryan allows the audience to take in many aspects of the characters and situation by having the characters engage directly with them, breaking down the distance created by more traditional staging.

Adding to this immersive feeling, Brian Murray’s lighting design, with its initial club atmosphere, right through to moments of intense use of shadow, was a particularly strong feature of the production. Once again, the clever use of the space available was evident in the design.

The whole production was well-constructed to truly draw the audience into the characters’ story, to the extent that at one point when a number of characters are chanting for another to jump dangerously from a height, members of the audience were so caught up in the atmosphere that they joined in the chant before realising what they were doing and stopping.  This is a good indicator of just how engaging and powerful this production is.

Trainspotting is not an easy play to watch, it demands engagement both in terms of your attention and your emotions, but it is a great play to watch. I came out of the auditorium well and truly phased by the intensity of the production; it didn’t feel like watching characters, it felt like watching people, and that is what makes Trainspotting an entertaining but stomach-turning and heart-wrenching piece of theatre.

 

Trainspotting runs until February 13th

 

The Boys – Review

Smock Alley

18/11/15

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Written by Michael Harnett and directed by Patrick Sutton, The Boys tells the story of a group of teenage boys (or perhaps more appropriately, a gang of lads) from Drumcondra and the events of their Inter-cert year, 1967. Following the ups and downs of the year for each of the four boys, this play hits the highs with an infectiously heady optimism and hilarity and the lows with an equally catching poignancy and pain.

The four actors, all recent graduates from the Gaiety School of Acting, handle their roles with skill and energy, with both Killian Coyle as Hackett and Shane O’Regan as Brennan delivering particularly impressive performances. Each actor has a primary role of one of the boys but all take on the guises of parents, girlfriends and many other supporting characters when their anecdotes demand it.  With only small changes of costume, a wig here, a hat there, and simple changes of posture and voice the cast portrayed all of the characters of the boys’ Drumcondra of 1967 with clarity and vitality (with O’Regan’s caricature of the Belvedere College secretary being a comic highlight!)

The script was well composed, capturing the distinctly youthful manner of speech of the boys (I know, I’m not too far from their age myself!) as well as the phrases and nuances of the Drumcondra accent. The transitions from levity to seriousness were also very cleverly written, always flowing naturally, catching the audience in a moment between laughter and tears.

The Boys is a recognisable, sometimes all-too real, tale of growing up, with all of its antics, heartaches and changes that will have a laugh and a tear competing in your throat.

King Lear – Review

Mill Productions

Mill Theatre Dundrum

13/10/15

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King Lear is my favourite Shakespeare play and consequently I automatically set high standards for any production of it, but Mill Productions’ take on King Lear did not disappoint.

From the opening the lighting stood out, with Kris Mooney’s design capturing the atmosphere and heightening the emotion in every scene perfectly. This was particularly so in the final tableaux with Lear, Cordelia and Edgar which was visually stunning.  Another interesting aspect of the lighting was the engagement with shadows, particularly by the Fool, which added another level of effective visual expression to the production.

Lenny Hayden as Lear and Shane O’Regan as the Fool both delivered impressive performances. Both handled the language with dexterity and worked excellently together as a pair. O’Regan captured the balance between eccentricity and wisdom in the Fool effectively. The rest of the cast all delivered competent and engaging performances, though Paul Elliot as Edmund did at points over-act, with too much shouting and high tension performance at times where it was not necessary.

The opening scene, with the Fool scampering in and starting a dynamic movement scene was an intriguing and captivating one. However, it was not followed through in the piece, which I would like to have seen. Had there been a stronger thread of that movement through the piece, the opening would have gelled better with the play as a whole. As it was they seemed two disjointed pieces, both effective and engaging, but neither entirely connected to the other.

This production was an entertaining and evocative rendition of Shakespeare’s tragic tale. In its engagement with the characters and its attention to the smaller details, Mill Productions truly brought Lear to life.