David Bolger uses the entire stage of the Samuel Beckett Centre right to the back wall, with the "cat-walk" as a performance gallery, for his latest piece, Dish of the Day, which opened last night. Within that space and in just over an hour, without interval, he manages to satirise a considerable range of human behaviour and many different styles of dance.
Two spot-lit ladders running up to the "cat-walk" on either side and three "flats", or boards on wheels, black on one side and mirrored on the other, are combined with Mark Galione's lighting design and the varied music and sounds of Bell Helicopter to create remarkable effects, such as that of dancers on a crowded disco floor, the cast magnified into many times their number.
A frieze of classical dancers is disrupted by James Hosty joining on to the end of the line; Justine Doswell in blonde wig tiptoes on pointe through the tulips with a revolving windmill - albeit a toy one - to emphasise the Dutch location, before reclining on a rubber sofa with Eric Lacey as if to re-enact Dances with Intent.
Instead, the sofa is somehow transformed into the largest tutu ever seen as she shows off her fine ballet technique.
Ella Clarke and Liz Roche also get opportunities for fine dancing and much humour. The audience began laughing almost from the start of the show as the whole cast worked an old music-hall gag from behind the black boards, while white balloons serve as everything from chewing gum to measuring tape, as well as being blown-up, burst, used for Isadora Duncan-type lyrical dance and a stunning climax. And of course we get the cooking recipe which gives the piece its name. The audience loved it and so did I.
Runs until Saturday at 8 p.m.; matinee performance on Saturday at 3 p.m. To book phone 01-6086461
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