FESTIVAL REVIEW: International Theatre Shorts. This very popular programme fits the Cobalt Cafe well. Bitten by Penny Jackson and directed by Mark Pollard opened the evening in The Dublin Rose a bar in New York where Stella (Maggie Daniels) was waiting on a snowy night to be collected by her grandson Dr Brian (Mike Evans) to visit Sunset Retirement Home. This was a well written two hander which had the element of nostalgia you would expect from an Irish emigrant family facing change. There was humour and fiestiness and a nice intergenerational bridge of love and understanding. Lovely start to a diverse programme. Colette Cullen then treated us to a shorter two hander called Forever. The placing of the actors caused visual and audio challenges but the intimacy and the connection of the two women came across well in a warm reminiscent piece. Therese Prenderville introduced us to Grace and Maggie, two young women living together, managing their past and present. This was well played, good use of space, nice work on a video diary and a good glimpse of the layers of young lesbian love in contemporary Ireland. Martk wards Blue Boy was very different. This white coated solo performance in verse brought us into a dark space of dominance and control with dire consequences. Rapid verse is an aural challenge and delivered with intensity and pace made you work hard to catch up and figure out just why the relationship reached such a horrible outcome. Dear Madonna by Mark Power was a poignant tale of a man writing back to his childhood self. It was delivered with honesty and empathy and told a tale that many young LGBT people should here. There is survival and happiness after the isolation of a school and neighbourhood life that does not find a safe space for all its children. Five plays, five writers and well worth the ticket price. Ends Saturday.
Posted on: Sat, 17 May 2014 18:54:16 +0000
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