Gerry O'Malley is the author of Death Of A Dog, the second in the Focus Theatre's lunchtime season of new one-act plays, and he has packed a great deal into its 50 minutes. A touring city couple collide with a dog in an isolated area and, decently enough, call to the farmhouse to own up and make up. The hulking farmer at first receives them with apparent understanding but there are undercurrents. Some of these have to do with the urbanrural divide, an instinctive distrust between the two couples. Drink enters the scenario, the men in a nearby pub, the women covertly at the domestic sherry supply, and conversations grow dangerously intimate.
It seems that life for both pairs has its secrets and tensions and the right spark would detonate them. The frictions set in train by the relatively minor accident ignite the alcoholic mix and move matters along to a dramatic climax and its aftermath. Shades of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf permeate the story to its advantage. The play's weakness is that it develops the relationships at an improbably fast pace; there is enough material here for a longer play, compressed into too small a parcel. But this is what one might call a good fault and Malachy McKenna, Michele Manahan, Frank O'Keefe and Aileen Fennell bring strong, naturalistic acting to their tasks. Joseph Campbell directs with nice nuances and Abigail Hannon's set design is apt for this engaging piece.
Until August 15th. To book phone 01-6763071
