Review: Bastard, A Family History

Bastard: A Family History

Project Arts Centre

***

First seen through a gilded frame, to a burst of imperialistic trumpets, while standing in his underwear, Oddie Braddell supplies a curious self-portrait: ironic and exposed. This solo show, written with James Walmsley and directed by Megan Riordan, is about a complicated position in Ireland, guided by a controversial family history and worries over his genetic inheritance. Take Thomas "Bloody" Braddell, who, Oddie reasons, must have done something extreme to earn that nickname among Cromwell's genocidal army, or John Waller Braddell, a Famine-era land agent whose assassin was celebrated as a national hero.

On an elegantly frayed set, Braddell presents himself as a deliberately schlubby figure, a tattered descendent, apologetically parading family heirlooms, such as his posh accent. It is a picture of both a man and perhaps a Protestant culture that never feel easily at home. Engaging and funny, the show becomes more raw when Oddie involves his troubled relationship with his father, wondering if DNA is destiny. The conclusion is a little glib, though; against these lurid scandals of history, an ordinary life seems pale.

Until Sep 12