Jams O'Donnell (aka Lorna Irvine) reviews Blue Raincoat Troupe's latest 'triumph'.
Imagine if you will a land of abject poverty, populated by reprobates, gobshites and general ne'er-do-wells, where people whinge, spin yarns and go to the Hunger Stack to get scant morsels of food out of sheer desperation.
Playwright Flann O' Brien, real name Brian O'Nolan, could of course have penned this play yesterday, such is its relevance, but in fact it was first published in 1941.
It focuses on the imaginary Irish town of Corkadoragha, in which central protagonist, Bonaparte O' Connassa (wonderfully portrayed by the velvet voiced Sandra O' Malley) is thwarted at every turn, born into precipitous misery- ''the choicest poverty and calamity'' - where even the puppet which represents him as a baby has a death mask for a face and pathetic wee stumps for limbs.
The stinging, exhaustive lyricism of O'Brien's language is savoured by a note-perfect cast, who play out the various grotesque identities with relish: Nichola MaEvily's coquettish beauty transforms into a cackling harridan, John Carty's gibberish-spouting, wild-eyed councillor parodies nationalist pride.
When O' Connassa finally seems ready to escape his certain fate, his wife and baby die and his new boots become a symbol of guilty excess...the cracks are showing through the craic.
Sligo's Blue Raincoat Troupe have triumphed again in a production in which every single element is beautifully integrated- from the squashed map of Jamie Vartan's set, to the movement choreography of the fantastic quintet- and all offset by a gorgeous, ominous score by Joe Hunt.
Another reason to love theatre.
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