Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny Aug 7-11; Aug 13-15 8pm €25/€21 056-7752175 www.kilkennyarts.ie
If it seems the Kilkenny Arts Festival’s theatre programme, curated by director Tom Creed, has somehow fused with the literature programme, that is less a sign of cross- pollination than a reflection of a vibrant trend in theatre: creating rich theatrical experiences from non-theatrical sources. Mabou Mines, New York’s avant-garde institution (a pleasing oxymoron), return to Kilkenny with Lucia’s Chapters (of coming forth by day), a short play inspired by the troubled genius of James Joyce’s daughter, starring the company’s co-founder Ruth Maleczech.
The other big news event is the return of Peter Brook’s Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, a company of such elegance and sparing that it seems they can make theatre out of anything. That’s just as well; Love Is My Sin is a selection of Shakespeare’s love sonnets performed by Natasha Parry and Bruce Myers. Offstage, Brook now readily dispenses theatrical truisms, whispering sweet Confucian nothings to anyone who will listen (most people do). But the more pared-down his work becomes, the closer his aesthetic gets to The Empty Space, and anything Brook places there seems a considered act of theatre.
Can’T See ThaT? CaTch This
Krapp’s Last Tape Parade Tower, Kilkenny/Players Theatre, Dublin
