Does Anybody Ever

Players Theatre, Trinity College **

THE CHILDREN is a new, young company with a production title as vague as its content. Laborious and largely disjointed throughout,

Does Anybody Ever

is difficult to engage or connect with. Death, morbidity, and a general feeling of foreboding hang as loosely over proceedings as the clothes-pegged backdrop. The three actors as overgrown children half- tormenting each other with games and tantrums are fine, but the piece is underdeveloped.

An odd dance interlude that immediately evokes Theatreclub’s aesthetic (which is not exactly unusual, given that Theatreclub seem to be more borrowed from than Anglo in young theatre productions at the moment) reinforces a slightly vacuous avant-garde tendency substituting anything meatier.

As a new company, hopefully they can develop structure and substance and return to the stage when they’re good and ready. Some rather beautiful projections along with endearing and awkwardly executed choreography in the closing minutes are two saving graces.

Runs until Saturday