We Are an Archipelago review: Island lives collide in an entrancing performance piece

We Are an Archipelago

Boys’ School, Smock Alley Theatre

★★★★☆

Two very different individuals form an unlikely bond in Erin Fornoff’s spoken-word piece, which explores John Donne’s contention that no one is an island in a geographically appropriate setting. Accompanied by a live score from the pianist Johnny Taylor, Fornoff, who is both writer and performer, conjures the tale of 99-year-old Bill’s valedictory return to the isolated North Carolina island of his birth, where he meets Deena, a 21-year-old expectant mother escaping the unhappy circumstances of her pregnancy.

If the set-up is a bit pat — there are references to the dusk and dawn of life, lest anyone miss the symbolism — the telling is anything but. Delivered in a resonant register, the language loops around in an impressionistic yet beguiling manner, with the narrative viewpoint shifting constantly. As Bill and Deena’s story moves to a biological and meteorological crescendo, director Franziska Detrez’s effective use of spare staging and lighting heightens the changing mood, as does Taylor’s understated music. But ultimately it’s Fornoff’s show, her evocative — and often very funny — prose poem brought to life by her entrancing performance.

Runs at Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin 2, until Saturday, September 24th, as part of Dublin Theatre Festival