Reviews

Irish Times writers reivew Way to Heaven at the Belltable, Limerick; The Early Bird at the Belfast Festival; and Zero 7 and Jose Gonzalez at the Savoy Theatre, Cork.

Way to Heaven at the Belltable, Limerick

The rise of "reality" entertainment is an interesting but problematic phenomenon. Reality TV, literary memoirs, verbatim theatre, embedded journalism and many other forms have emerged recently, all claiming to represent the truth, while carefully concealing their own artificiality and bias. Juan Mayorga's Way to Heaven is an important response to this development, arguing that any attempt to represent reality will inevitably be influenced by personal interest.

The play is (ostensibly) based on real events. In 1942, a Red Cross volunteer visited a German concentration camp to report on the living conditions of its inhabitants - and was duped by a carefully-staged performance involving more than 100 Jewish prisoners, who were forced to pretend that they were happy, healthy, and prosperous.

This story becomes the starting-point for a meta-theatrical exploration of the relationship between truth and performance. We watch the camp commandant "directing" his cast, and see them fearfully learning their lines: we must constantly ask whether we're watching reality or rehearsal. The audience's inability to tell the difference between the two is often illuminating.

David Horan's production successfully highlights many of the play's themes. Marcus Costello's set is a series of frames within frames, presenting the action as a composed image, like a photograph or painting, that reveals some facts but omits others. And there are enjoyable moments of theatricality: doubling-up of roles, repetition of scenes, shifts in accent and, notably, the movement of the Jewish characters out of the frame when they reveal their "true" selves at the play's conclusion.

The production falters in its attempt to use a naturalistic performance style, however. Because the characters rarely speak for themselves, their humanity must be revealed by gesture and subtlety of characterisation. Instead, we get stereotype and cliche: the silently dignified Jewish patriarch, the cute little girl with the babyish voice, the Nazi commandant who is carefully groomed but utterly mad. We've seen it all before - not in life, but in Hollywood movies. Mayorga's script suggests that much of what we understand as reality is in fact performance - but the production doesn't fully reveal the significance of that message.

At the Belltable until Oct 28; tours to Civic Theatre Tallaght Oct 31-Nov 4; Hawk's Well, Sligo, Nov 7 -11; Everyman Palace Theatre, Cork Nov 13-18 Patrick Lonergan

Belfast Festival: The Early Bird at the Drama and Film Centre at Queen's

The central character of Leo Butler's new play for Ransom Productions is conspicuous by her absence. Kimberley - a missing child, a lost child, a dead child, an errant child, an imagined child? There are far more questions than answers in Rachel O'Riordan's relentless production, finding a rhythm and momentum, which eventually become extremely hard to bear.

Kimberley is the product of a relationship which began in love but has now reached rock bottom. Gary McCann's stark set forcefully makes the point, literally and metaphorically separating the two warring partners, Debbie and Jack, by a solid brick wall, through which there is no communication.

Abi McGibbon's Debbie is a woman fraught with an abundance of love and loathing in her soul. Her day revolves around the television schedules, punctuated only by the routine of caring for a child, whose traumatic, painful birth has left them both terribly damaged. This is a mesmerising, no-holds barred performance, as her recollection of Kimberley's last journey to school shifts and changes according to her state of mind.

Colm Gormley has a tricky task in the difficult role of Jack, one minute caring father and successful businessman, the next a cruel tormentor of a frightened child, whose mind he manipulates against her mother. The ever-moving textual structure gives little indication of time frame or the detail of actual events. But its power lies in its unerring ability to cut to the quick of the darkest human fear - the sudden loss of a loved one in unknown circumstances.

Until 28 Oct, then tours to Derry and Donaghmore. Jane Coyle

Zero 7 and Jose Gonzalez at the Savoy Theatre, Cork

The addition of Jose Gonzalez on Zero 7's third studio album, The Garden, paved the way for a more lyrical and slightly livelier output from the English electronica collective. On paper it seemed an inspired addition, yet in a live setting the ensemble seemed unsure how to fuse Australian vocalist Sia Furler, indie-folkie Gonzalez, and their unique brand of funky electronica.

There were so many musical possibilities that sometimes you felt the band hasn't entirely worked out which ones to follow. But maybe that was the point. There are few bands that can flit from laid-back lounge to full-on techno via carefree soul and not sound slightly disjointed. For the most part, the diversions worked, thanks largely to the input of Henry Binns and Sam Hardarker, switching between pianos, synths and percussion. Still, you can't help feeling that a lot of what they do is filler material, and something of a work in progress.

Furler's vocals on opening tracks such as Throw it All Away or You're My Flame, part Sam Browne, part Stevie Nicks, were matched only by her infectious onstage personality, often engaging directly with individual members of the packed audience. By contrast, Gonzalez chose to remain seated, relying on intricate guitar work, Latin background noise and his deadpan vocal delivery on tracks such as Futures and Crosses. In between, what we got was akin to extended jamming sessions - think Hot Chip meets The Arcade Fire. When not on vocal duty, both Furler and Gonzalez shot the breeze at the side of the stage, and allowed the collective indulge their instrumental side.

The ability to engage was left solely to Furler, with mesmerising vocals on Distractions, which gained mass appeal after debuting on Six Feet Under, and the appropriately eccentric Pageant of the Bizarre. Somersault, the only track to emerge from second LP When It Falls, provided a dreamy encore with Furler switching effortlessly from chanteuse to bluesy soul singer, while staking her claim for the band's emotional centre. Brian O'Connell