This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. Writer: Alison Spittle Director: Simon Mulholland In a midlands middle-of-nowhere location Michael and Shannon have a date. If anything, it’s something to do. The cinema, a few drinks, and the customary shift. Both disheartened by the world around them, they can still dream of better things. At least they’re not dogging at…
Tag: Fringe
Review: Wishful Thinking
This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. Writer: Shaunna Lee Lynch Director: Ciarán MacArtain Leaving a far from illustrious journalism career in London, one that involved more pouring coffee than Pulitzers, Siobhán (Karen Killenn) finds herself back home in East Cork and living with her mother Angela (Claire O’Donovan). She quickly realises that the place she left behind is…
Review: The Fattest Dancer at St Bernadette’s
This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. Triple threat Julian Le Blanc is up to high doh. It’s the 10th anniversary 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 had…
Review: After
This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. As the end of the world approaches and uncertainty is all-consuming, two documentary filmmakers follow their subjects through the mire of emotions and struggles they face. The subjects, Clara and Kip, work their way through the seven stages of the apocalypse while the documentary makers remain mostly aloof and at times directive.…
Review: How To Be Angry
This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. Anger is omnipresent in various forms. The inane conversation you can’t have anymore. The uninvited attention at a bar. The social problems that never seem to get resolved. The person sitting next to you in the theatre. Then what? Shout, scream, and punch? Or swallow it down and pretend that it doesn’t…
Review: Dummy
This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. Growing up in the shadow cast by their father’s limelight wasn’t easy for Dolly and Teddy, especially when Daddy was a notoriously bad ventriloquist with emotional issues. This lack of stability resulted in their mother leaving and Teddy eventually having his own breakdown. Following in daddy’s footsteps, Dolly (Niamh McGrath) has her…
Review: The Half of It
This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. In a dingy Dublin flat a Cork woman ruminates over her life and what it has become. Her routine exists exclusive of the outside world, which she only glimpses through her window. As she tries to ready herself to leave this exile, she replays episodes of her life that have led her…
Review: My Left Nut
This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. Belfast, 1998. The Troubles give way to Talks, which give way to Agreements. Not that it affects Michael too much. He and his friends have other things to worry about, such as who did what with which girl. The conversation never gets too heavy and Michael never really talks about his…
Review: From All Sides
This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. Two couples begin to tell their tales of modern life and love in a fast paced and fun manner. As the couples attend their respective nights out the humour quickly fades when it becomes apparent that these relationships are anything but fun. At least not anymore. From All Sides explores domestic violence…
Review: Coast
This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub. In an Irish seaside town four people with, apparently, very different lives begin to tell their stories. Carol (Camille Lucy Ross) tends to the every need to her dementing mother and is rapidly losing her patience. Gerry (Donncha O’Dea) is an alcoholic loner with only his faithful dog as a companion,…
David Keane 