A selection of reviews from the world of the arts.
True West
Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire
It is natural that a US company, here the Keegan Theatre, from Washington DC, should bring an added dimension to the plays of Sam Shepard. They are rooted in their own soil, and the characters are archetypes of people living - or losing - the American dream. Truth travels well, like a good wine, and this story is transparent to Irish audiences.
Austin, a married screenwriter now living in the north, is home for a brief stay in the vacant family home beside the Mojave Desert. He is unexpectedly joined by his elder brother Lee, a dropout who lives a nomadic life and survives by petty theft. Austin, although embarrassed by the intruder, still retains fraternal feelings for him. But complications ensue when Saul, a parasitical producer, joins them.
Lee, on the surface a dominant personality, wins a golf bet from Saul, and his winnings are to be the profits from a melodramatic story he has in his head, which will of course be filmed. It is all a scam, but Lee doesn't believe this, and Austin finds himself reduced to the level of a ghostwriter in the project. The roles of the brothers are for a time reversed, Austin seeking to prove his virility by stealing toasters.
Drink enters the picture, and the scenario grows more absurd and funny as the two lose their tenuous grasp on reality. It ends with the brothers circling each other like wounded beasts, at the mercy of their individual illusions.
The acting is quite perfect, with Eric Lucas (Austin), Mark Rhea (Lee), Brian Hemmingsen (Saul) and Carol Baker (Mom) wholly absorbing in their roles. Susan Marie Rhea directs with the intimate understanding that underpins this fine production.
Runs here until Saturday, then tours
Gerry Colgan
The Elixir Of Love
Grand Opera House, Belfast
If ever an artistic project deserved success, it is Youth Opera Northern Ireland. In recent years Welsh National Opera has been a regular visitor to Belfast, and this performance of Donizetti was the result of its members' intensive coaching in singing and stage movement of young local performers.
One had to make some allowances; young voices take time to develop, after all, though I was sorry to find an important duet for the two principals, where the verbal sparring conveys so much of their relationship, cut. But it was good to see these performers progressing from operetta to opera (I last heard them in The Mikado).
Director John Doyle locates the action on a Mediterranean beach, with the chorus in brightly coloured beachwear and Dulcamara selling his potion from an ice-cream stand.
As Nemorino, Francis Fee has the work's longest and most demanding role. A charming stage personality, he has a pleasant light voice and made effective use of head tones. The Adina, Aoife Miskelly, is a fresh, clear soprano, technically assured and obviously a singer of promise. These were amiable performances, and Tim Rhys-Evans conducted understandingly.
Dermot Gault
