The Maker
Draíocht, Blanchardstown
★★★★☆
Drexel is a maker along with his servant and sidekick, Pipe. Wordlessly, Drexel endeavours to make things appear out of nothing. The secret to this alchemy rests within a single mauve-spined volume, tucked among dozens of its kind on the mauve shelves of their mauve room.
Drexel is serious and steadfast in the quest, following the directions in various books, performing a series of movements and waiting for something to appear in the alcove in the centre of the room. It doesn’t.
Pipe is more world-weary in facilitating Drexel’s endeavour. His only escape is to mischievously annoy Drexel by deliberately misunderstanding his tasks. This insolence usually earns him a bop in the head.
On one occasion Pipe sneezes immediately after Drexel performs one of the mini dances from a book. Immediately a yellow rubber duck appears in the alcove. Pipe has now become a vital element in the mission, and the hierarchy begins to gradually dissolve.
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To describe in detail what follows would be to give the game away. But the production’s inventiveness only intensifies, tumbling forward in a crescendo of visual wit and finely tuned physical comedy.
Suddenly, in a Wizard of Oz-style behind-the-curtain moment, we have to question if the magic is real at all. Who, precisely, is in charge here? Are Drexel and Pipe complicit or are they, too, being directed by unseen hands?
Andrew Clancy’s set design and Saileóg O’Halloran’s costumes stitch together a world equal parts commedia dell’arte and Beckettian austerity. But it is the brilliantly sustained performances from Manus Halligan (as Drexel), Raymond Keane (as Pipe) and, later, Johanna O’Brien that infuse the show with charm and curiosity.
Created by Dan Colley, its director, in collaboration with the performers, The Maker has the imagination and immediacy that would appeal to young viewers but also some fascinating philosophical riddles for older children.
The Maker was at Draíocht as part of Dublin Theatre Festival
