Reviews

Plays until Saturday September(booking at 01-6082461) prior to tour

The Hackney Office - Druid Theatre, Galway

The Druid Theatre would appear to be on the discovery trail again: in giving Michael Collins his first full professional production, directed by Garry Hynes, it has brought to light yet another skilled writer of devious comedy with a heart of pure blackness. At the play's opening, we discover Christy Quinn and his young business partner, Jude Caffrey, sitting on the inside window-sill of a shop-front office (with a boarded-up window and a door which rolls up only halfway). From here, it appears, they are running a hackney service. But when the telephone rings, all but one caller gets told by Christy that he has no cars available. For the one significant caller, Jude is dispatched. It slowly becomes clear that the lads are incompetent spoofers who cannot even make clear what kind of iced lollies they like. And, whatever bit of nefarious business they may have on the side, the hackney trade is not exactly a brisk or profitable activity for them. Apart from anything else, there is a chronic shortage of available cars and drivers. Enter Danny McQuaid, twisted into contortions by a crick in the neck, who might be the owner of seven taxi plates (not currently in use). He is also in need of help from his old pal, Christy, to get him out of a bit of difficulty in whatever his current business may be. It is as though the play has been written in body language, and the words - and even the silences - can be taken to have any meaning other than what might seem obvious. Deviousness and business incompetence become increasingly and hilariously entangled as the three try to do business without telling either of the other two exactly what is going on.

Ignorance and idiocy seem to be irritating Danny and he is feeling taunted by Jude's references to young Tracey, who might be Jude's girlfriend (he fancies the birds), or Danny's daughter, or neither or both. And why, or how, is Christy separated from his badminton-playing wife Catherine? And just who or what is "The Duke"? and why are the gardai busy in their cars tonight?

This is funny, funny stuff, and will become even funnier as the three skilled actors perfect their timing and their immediate relationships with each other. As Christy, Brian F. Byrne's face keeps changing as if no muscle in it has any direct relationship with any other, yet the expression on his face is always telling and often rightly forlorn. Andrew Lovern is the lusting, cunning Jude in a crewcut and Sean McGinley the twisted, muscle-locked, increasingly tense Danny. Liz Cooke has provided one of the most perfectly drab settings imaginable, brightly lit by Rupert Murray, while Gregory Clarke's sound plot of the indecipherable voices on the other end of the telephone is every bit as funny as the action and dialogue. There is just one dramaturgical deficit: the switch near the end from hilarious idiocy to real menace needs better signalling earlier in the play.

Nonetheless, this is one to see, and the suspicion persists that Michael Collins has a lot more to offer the theatre as well.

The Hackney Office continues at Druid Theatre, Galway until December 22nd (booking at 091-568617).

Foo Fighters - Olympia Theatre

It's easy to forget that Dave Grohl, the toothy, long-haired leader of Foo Fighters, used to bang the drums for Nirvana way back when. While most of the grunge scene dinosaurs have long since lurched to extinction, Grohl's band have flown, and now they've landed here at the Olympia in the midst of a full house of devoted fans, none of whom wants to hear Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Instead, the crowd calls for Monkey Wrench, This Is A Call, Learn To Fly and Break- out, which Grohl and co. duly deliver in a burst of life-affirming rock 'n' roll energy. Faced with the melodic mayhem of Foo Fighters in full flight, it's plain that grunge's nihilistic days were always numbered.

It has been around three years since Foo Fighters played Ireland. In the meantime, the band's current album, There Is Nothing Left To Lose, has outsold their first two albums. Still, it's tracks like For All The Cows, Hey Johnny Park!, My Hero and Everlong which get the crowd animated, although new tracks like Ain't It The Life and Next Year make pristine 21st-century rock anthems.

Toss in some fine grandstanding from drummer Taylor Hawkins, some musical references to Canadian prog-rockers Rush, and an impromptu version of Message In A Bottle, and you've got far away from grunge, but pretty damn near to rock 'n' roll nirvana.