Irish Times writers give you their opinion on Spiritualized and The Age Of Consent

Spiritualized

Vicar Street, Dublin

The wonderful thing about Spiritualized on record is that they can be the loudest band in the world, with a wall of noise that would make Phil Spector shudder, then reduce it in a heartbeat to a few simple sounds of stunning fragility. Here, as with their latest album, Amazing Grace, it was all about the former, with barely a whisper of the latter.

The set opened with the gargantuan Never Goin' Back, succeeded by Come Together, as solid a foundation as any band can lay claim to. The big guns were out early and laying waste to any patches of scepticism in the crowd. Previous albums, Let It Come Down in particular, had favoured swelling orchestral and string-section arrangements; Amazing Grace is all about an immense live sound, and the set list reflected this.

Never the most interactive of frontmen, J Spaceman uttered not a syllable to the audience and generated an inordinate amount of feedback and noise from the comfort of his chair. Unfortunately, the rock and roll histrionics of the Soledad Brothers, the support group, were exactly what Spiritualized needed. The noise was there, as was the enthusiasm, but there was no focal point, nobody to lead the masses. The crowd responded in kind; plenty of nodding heads, but not the mob hysteria these volumes typically induce.

It is not that the performance was in any way poor; few bands could even attempt to play with this much energy and enthusiasm. It's just that many now expect so much from Spiritualized that when their performances are anything less than inspired you can feel let down. The tracks from the new album were played with a real edge and intensity, but mix in a few of the more melodic tracks from the back catalogue and a good gig would have matured into something inspirational.

-Laurence Mackin

The Age Of Consent

International Bar, Dublin

Peter Morris's play, first performed in Edinburgh two years ago, has arrived in Dublin courtesy of the new Red Rage Theatre Company. It is the kind of work that gives controversy a bad name, exploiting rather than developing tales of sexual abuse and child murder, the latter related to the notorious Jamie Bulger case.

For about 80 minutes two interwoven rather than interlocking monologues are offered; neither relates to nor supports the other. First a sexy young single mother tells how she propelled her six-year-old daughter into a branch of showbiz (TV advertising) without apparently realising that their elderly patron has a sexual interest, successfully pursued, in the girl. It ends there, with the dolce vita bedded in corruption.

Next a 19-year old man tells of his excruciating youth and how he came to kill a toddler without motive. He still cannot understand why he did it, and now he is nearing his release from detention. His thoughts revolve around what sort of world he will return to and how he will survive in it. We leave him on the verge of a terrifying freedom.

The writing pursues inadequate storylines rather than themes; we are no wiser at the end as to underlying causes or roots, as if the darkness at the heart of the play should be enough. It is not. Neither is there dialogue that fleshes it out, to give the actors a chance to show their paces.

That said, the inexperience of the two on stage is manifest. Susan Stanley looks well but is verbally and physically strident in a display of overacting. Donal McDonald, on the other hand, tends to underact, keeping the audience at a distance even in this tiny venue. John Lawler directs but fails to inject any conviction into the dubious piece.

Runs until September 20th

-Gerry Colgan