Reviews

Mary Leland and Jim Carroll review Striking Distance at the Granary, Cork, Orchestra Baobab at Vicar Street, Dublin and Toto La Mompasina at Vicar Street, Dublin

Striking Distance at the Granary, Cork

On the evidence of a taut production from Graffiti Theatre, Raymond Scannell's first play Striking Distance justifies its selection for the Seedlings Project run by Rough Magic. It is also the winner of ISDA's Special Award for Innovation, recommendations which indicate the presence of a significant new talent.

Awards are one thing, however, and performance quite another; what is important about Emelie FitzGibbon's direction is that her imposition of style on what is still somewhat rough-hewn material allows all its quality to become evident.

As played by Simon Delany, Mark O'Brien and Jessica Regan, on a split set designed by Olan Wrynn, Striking Distance is an account of modern teenage school life, where boredom is relieved by dares which become dangerous, and where affinities are always subject to challenge, because they are instinctive or only half-understood.

The central device is the merging of the fantasy experience lived through gothic comics and the inevitable conflicts with reality which result. This introduces the mingling of direct and indirect speech which, although controlled and coherent for the most part, has moments of confusion.

Characters whose presence is revealed only in voice-over are given a little too much to say, but these elements will not distract the young audiences for which this production is designed, nor can they disguise the vitality and occasional lyricism of Scannell's writing.

Striking Distance, by Raymond Scannell, will be touring to post-primary schools in Munster and South Leinster until November 29th. For further information contact 021 4397111

Mary Leland

Orchestra Baobab at Vicar Street, Dublin

Whatever other sobriquets the revamped and expanded Vicar Street attracts, it's unlikely that it will be compared again this year to a nightclub in downtown Dakar. Yet, during the course of Orchestra Baobab's triumphant Irish debut on Saturday night, as part of the ESB Routes In Rhythm World Weekender, you'd have been forgiven for thinking it was sultry Senegal not inclement Ireland which lay beyond the venue walls.

A predictable comparison, maybe, but one wholly in line with the texture and trajectory of this show.

Right now, the revived Orchestra Baobab can do no wrong. As their recent Specialist In All Styles album demonstrated, their winning combination of Cuban grooves and west African melodies still makes for the most pleasing of experiences, all the better because it's tempered by years of experience and the adrenalin of a second chance.

Live, too, they're hitting the high notes and are probably every jot as good as the young guns who caused such a wow in the early 1970s at their Baobab Club residency in the Senegalese capital. What's most pleasing about the Orchestra's momentum is the natural spark between the onstage players. While there are several individual stars - the sparkling guitar of Togo lawyer Barthelemy Attisso, the sweet vocals of Rudy Gomis and the glorious sax of Issa Cissoko - the Orchestra are also magnificently in tune with one another.

So when Gomes creates an alluring passion play out of Utru Horas or Attisso adds sympathetic keening chimes to Dee Moo Woor, their star contributions are but one part of this mesmerising jigsaw.

First and foremost, however, the sharp-suited Orchestra are a club band geared to meeting the demands of a dancefloor, so it's tunes like On Verra Ca which have the capacity crowd jiving.

Yet for all the energetic and enthusiastic highstepping on the night (added to by two of the most charming stage invasions seen in many a long day), it's the Baobab blend of sounds and rhythms from two vastly different geographical locations which is the most spellbinding rediscovery of all.

Whatever about articulating theories to explain this mix of Cuba and Senegal, there's no doubt it works a treat in practice.

Jim Carroll

Toto La Mompasina at Vicar Street, Dublin

Colombian flair is what legendary Mompos Islander Tota La Mompasina brought to Dublin for the second night of the ESB Routes In Rhythm World Weekender. A flamboyant, earthy and dynamic onstage presence, La Mompasina on her own would have been quite a dish, but the incredibly intuitive playing of her orchestra turned this show into something of a feast.

Drawing on the rich, celebratory musical and dramatic cultures of her native country, Toto La Mompasina's live show is a perfect encapsulation of those musical styles, born and reared within Columbia's borders. Yet in the midst of those intoxicating cumbria and mapale grooves which her band of drummers throw out with ease, you also have elements of other sounds and styles from Latin American strongholds to ensure a robust and rhythmic flood of sound.

While such a hotchpotch of sounds might occasionally suggest an overladen melting pot, the onstage ensemble's musical skills make a nonsense of this notion. From the rich melodic beauty of Manita Uribe to the pulsating tones of El Tigre, the combination of percussion, punchy brass and La Mompasina's evocative vocals drew you further and further in.

And, lest anyone had somehow forgotten who was the real star of this show, La Mompasino's sparkling recital of Mami Wata was a passionate, remarkable showstopper, and one worthy of diva status.

But besides the sensuous presence and performance of the energetic lady in the spotlight, it was the powerful swing of La Mompasino's accomplished orchestra which really fired this show to another level.

After a mesmerising series of high-octane percussion clashes, the ensemble ended the show by walking, chanting and playing their way to the dressingroom via the audience. From start to finish, this truly was quite a spectacle.

Jim Carroll