Reviews

Irish Times writers review Ex Tenebrisand Rebecca's Robin.

Ex TenebrisAirfield House, Dublin

How many experts does it take to put on a concert? Well, in the case of the new, five-member vocal ensemble eX, it's rather a lot. Along with production, music direction, stage direction, lighting design and choreography, their current tour of Ex Tenebris also has credits for stylist, make-up design, hair design, associate stage director, assistant hair and make-up design, plus photography and web and graphic design. The show, which also involves two dancers (Katherine O'Malley and Justine Doswell), is a three-part, seasonal contemplation of the nativity, roving internationally from the 12th to the 17th centuries in its trawl for material.

There are many moments of beauty in the singing, especially from eX's three female voices, sopranos Aoife Miskelly and Róisín O'Grady, and mezzo soprano Caitríona O'Leary, who is also the group's music director. The two men - tenor Jacek Wislocki and bass baritone Eoin Supple - are less consistent in delivery, both tonally and technically.

The musical style is at the moment too all-purpose plain, in spite of some attractive moments of Celtic inflection. The manner is that of choral singers, where the individual voice is calculated to blend with others holding the same melodic line, and minor deviations can be expected to add to rather than detract from the bigger picture. The demands of one-to-a-line ensemble singing require a degree of precision, especially in the rounding-off of phrases, that eX does not yet quite deliver.

In the small confines of Airfield House, the limitations were most keenly felt in the earlier repertoire. When the group hit the home straight with Gdy sie Krystus Narodzil (When Christ was Born, from 16th-century Poland), something clicked, bringing a sense of vitality that was maintained to the end.

Eric Fraad's direction and Liz Roche's choreography, which sometimes placed performers in elevated window spaces and used candlesticks for the striking of physical attitudes, seemed to me to make for fussy movements and groupings. With such a long list of personnel, it was surprising that no one had eliminated the negative effect of singers' hand-held torches (to light their sheet music) shining in audience members' eyes.

This show revealed a group that's full of big ideas, and has identified a viable opening in the musical market. If everyone involved succeeds in sorting out the finer details they may well manage to fill it in style.

Also on Sat at St Iberius Church, Wexford (053-9123764) - Michael Dervan

Rebecca's RobinBewley's Café Theatre

Deirdre Kinahan wrote this children's play for the lunchtime slot in Bewley's intimate space, and it fits it like a glove. It tells the story of a girl who has made best friends with Illyas, a Hungarian boy settled in Dublin. They are both in the school Christmas play, but Illyas doesn't show up on the opening night, and it transpires that his family has moved, possibly under a rehousing programme.

What to do? Help comes in the shape of a mysterious robin, which leads Rebecca on a long journey. On the way she passes a strange monk, takes advice from a very odd bus driver, encounters a talking statue, meets busy shoppers and a tall, thin poet. The robin flutters ahead as she continues her quest, until she finally sees Illyas' new house. Then, magically, she is home, to find that her odyssey has lasted only an instant. Her mother has tracked down the new address for Illyas, and next day they set out for it. Mum can't understand how Rebecca knows the way, but the friends are reunited anyway.

It is an engaging little story, acted with energy and charm by Georgina McKevitt playing the girl and sketching the briefly-encountered adults. A little of the detail seems superfluous, such as the identification of the statue with Anne Devlin and Robert Emmet, and of the skinny poet with WB Yeats; too much information, perhaps. Not that it got in the way of the manifest merriment of the young audience. 'Tis the season to be jolly, and this playlet does the trick.

Runs to Jan 6 - Gerry Colgan