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The Table review: An exploration of the Civil War with fairy tale flavour

Theatre: Production has lots to admire with a child-friendly context for Ireland’s Civil War

THE TABLE

Peacock stage, Abbey Theatre, Dublin
★★★☆☆

Fadó, fadó i mbaile beag in Éireann, the Ó Flatharta clan are trying to make their rent. The ownership of the cottage they lease has been long disputed, but the Ó Flathartas are nonetheless happy with their lot. As guardians of a table carved from an ancient tree on sacred land, they are keepers of their community’s stories, spirit and language. When the future of the table becomes threatened, however, the family find themselves at war with one another.

Christian O’Reilly’s script for Branar, the children’s theatre company, has the flavour of a fairy tale, from the shared narrative device that bookends the show to the use of metaphorical resonance to impart a more serious message and a child-friendly context for Ireland’s Civil War.

The dialogue is gently bilingual. Irish questions are answered in English; exclamations are made as Gaeilge: there is no barrier to understanding for those with only a cúpla focal. Song is also used for narrative effect, while music from Michael Chang adds tone and texture to the unfolding drama.

Marc Mac Lochlainn, the production’s director, brings an imaginative visual energy to the staging, which unfolds on a country-cottage set designed by Maeve Clancy, who uses a series of projected drawn backdrops to evoke outdoor locations.

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Ger Clancy’s expressive puppets allow extra characters to come to the stage: the landlord’s villainous agent, a peep of pecking chickens and, most memorably, Seamus the rooster, a gallinaceous reincarnation of the Ó Flatharta patriarch.

The Table is performed by Martha Dunlea, Helen Gregg, Bob Kelly, Grace Kiely and Eoin Ó Dubhghaill, who ably manipulate puppets and instruments as they slip in and out of the real-time action.

If the entertainment never quite loses its educational edge, there is a lot to admire in this production for an audience aged seven and up, and the graphic novel programme created by Maeve Clancy allows children to continue exploring the play’s context and themes once the staged story comes to an end.

The Table runs at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin 1, until Saturday, March 18th

Sara Keating

Sara Keating

Sara Keating, a contributor to The Irish Times, is an arts and features writer