ASRTSCAPE:GRUDGES CAN LAST a long time in Ireland, and a 30-year row between regulars and a Dublin city-centre pub seems to have been resolved amicably, and be at the centre of a new venue.
A small room upstairs over Lanigan's Plough, Lower Abbey Street – if the windows weren't blacked out they would surely look in at the Abbey Theatre's bar – finally opened properly as a new theatre space this week, with a new play by Jimmy Murphy and a top range of talent behind it. The lunchtime two-hander What's Left of the Flag(about Mossad agents holed up in a Dublin building, planning an assassination) was perfect for the intimate space, full of palpable tension and threat. Murphy's sharp script, and excellent performances by Sean Flanagan and Gerard Byrne, should earn a good audience (it runs until May 8th).
Theatre Upstairs @ The Plough had an on-off start, with first a flood hampering things, then the discovery that it needed a theatre licence to operate (or rather, to advertise). Actor Karl Shiels, writer Paul Walker and technical supremo Andy Cummins are behind the venture, in the spirit of doing it for themselves in a non-funded, recession environment. So though there's well-established talent involved and an impressive range of new writing coming up, it's done on a "shares" basis and is completely dependent on getting good houses. It bodes well though – there's little enough going on theatre-wise at lunchtime in Dublin, aside from Bewley's Café Theatre, which goes from strength to strength, and nothing in the teatime slot. Soup and a show for lunch or a pint and a play for tea-time is their catchline, but Shiels mentions happily, in relation to their serious intent and high aspirations, a comment from an audience member – that they are doing theatre at lunchtime, rather than lunchtime theatre. They plan to premiere a series of new plays from established and new writers at lunchimes. Coming up – new work from Deirdre Kinahan, Eugene O'Brien, Ross Dungan, Verity-Alicia Mavenawitz. The teatime slot will feature revivals – right now you can catch The Good Thiefby Conor McPherson, and there's a Mark O'Rowe coming up, along with play readings and works-in-progress.
And there’s more to come. They plan to open a gallery space alongside the theatre, probably next month, starting with an exhibition by Helen McNulty. They’re also talking about a night-time theatre slot, and a musical residency. Keep an eye on the Facebook page Theatre Upstairs @ the Plough.
So what about that row? Some 30 years ago, when the Plough was the local watering hole for the Abbey players, an incident (possibly to do with a refusal to serve a minute after closing) resulted in an exodus from the pub, led by actor Des Cave, across the road to the Flowing Tide. The Plough has long been closed, and having re-opened recently under new management (it’s owned by the Clifton Court Hotel), apparently Cave dropped in and ceremonially downed a pint to extinguish the grudge.
No Escape, no access
It wasn't the usual theatre opening. Mary Raftery's No Escapeat the Peacock was never going to be an ordinary play. The documentary theatre piece, presenting material from the Ryan report, with seven actors in 95 minutes, is surely one of the things a national theatre should be about, engaging properly with a vital contemporary issue. Outside the theatre on Wednesday night, was a gentle protest, centered on Paddy Doyle objecting to the fact that he, or anyone in a wheelchair, cannot access the second performance space of the national theatre, the basement level, non-lift accessible, Peacock. Reaction to the protest was warm and supportive, and the protesters were joined by Abbey director Fiach Mac Conghail in a sort-of Director Protests Outside his own Theatre scenario. The work to make the Peacock accessible is being costed and Mac Conghail has written to Minister Hanafin seeking a meeting, which Paddy Doyle has agreed to join. In the meantime, on Tuesday No Escapewill be performed around the corner at the fully accessible Liberty Hall Centre.
It’s all about exclusion, the treatment of some citizens as unequal to others, and that was at the core of the performance too. Somehow the acres of newsprint, the hours of broadcasting, didn’t have the same impact as this creative presentation of the material. The atmosphere inside the theatre beforehand was muted, almost nervous. A number of survivors of institutional abuse were in the audience, and there were gentle punctuations of the action and words onstage from the auditorium – snorts of derision at official pronouncements, mutterings of “hear-hear” at other times. At the end it was almost like a funeral, with handshakes and hugs, relief and catharsis at a national shame laid bare.
Here comes the Wagon
Volcanic ash played havoc with flight schedules this week, but Wanderly Wagongot the nod. The Dublin Puppet Festival (formerly the International Puppet Festival Ireland) have clearance from air traffic controllers (ahem) to fly Wanderly Wagonin to celebrate the first Puppet Festival in the centre of Dublin (having moved from south Dublin, and from autumn to spring timing). Its creator Eugene Lambert is sadly departed, but the actual flying caravan from his much-loved children's show will swoop (on a truck, unfortunately, not from the sky) into Wolfe Tone Park next weekend to end the festival, which starts on Monday.
As well as Irish and international puppet shows for adults and children in Temple Bar’s Smock Alley and Project theatres, the festival has free outdoor shows in Temple Bar and Wolfe Tone Square next weekend, including Ireland’s first “International Punch Day” tomorrow week, with Punch Judy shows from all over Europe in Meeting House Square. This year’s Dublin Puppet Festival is dedicated to the memory of its founder, Eugene Lambert. The puppeteer and entertainer died in February and his grandson, Ronan Tully, is the festival’s artistic director. See puppetfest.ie.
Artist Una Gildea, whose quirky and engaging work will be familiar to readers of The Irish Times– most recently illustrating the Renewing the Republicseries – is showing her small-scale work in Familiar, a joint exhibition with Paul MacCormaic, which explores the effect of constant exposure to images of celebrities and public figures. The exhibition is at Unit H, Market Studios, off Capel Street (corner of Halson Street and Mary's Lane).
