Me and Mamie O'Rourke at the New Theatre, Temple Bar, Dublin.

Me and Mamie O'Rourke

New Theatre, Temple Bar, Dublin

By Gerry Colgan

There is more than a touch of absurdism about this play by Mary Agnes Donoghue. It is set in the cellar of a bungalow, where a married couple live in a state of near-total hostility.

The husband is an architect who hates houses - he designs functional pods that nobody will buy - and is dismantling the internal walls of their home. His wife has a collection of fantasy men who enliven her thoughts, and is trying to design a haute couture bulletproof vest.

Her best friend is another fantasist who works as a cook, but aspires, without any formal education, to be a researcher. She wants to study animal activism, whatever that is, rock the world of science and get married to a microbiologist. While she nurtures this ambition, she engages in a series of brief affairs with men who soon leave her hurriedly. The title is a line from an old song called The Sidewalks of New York, and is meant to signal the friends' togetherness.

The marriage drifts towards its inevitable ending, and the cook leaves New York to start again elsewhere. There is a deal of clever fun on the way to this dismal conclusion.

The husband is, in John Delaney's well-judged performance, a chauvinist who boosts his flagging ego with destructive and abusive behaviour. Sean Hanrahan puts in a series of witty cartoon characters as the wife's dream men, who include Engelbert Humperdinck, Rocky and an RAF fighter pilot, among others. Linda McEvoy is a robust and finally rebellious wife, and Helena McInerney plays her kooky friend, glamorous in vain.

It all amounts to an amusing, if less than hilarious, farce, possessed of enough creative touches to keep the audience engaged.

Director Kristian Marken manages her spirited team with discipline, and they bring home the comedy safely.

Runs until July 19th